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| ASEAN-EU (Wiki Info) |
By Shada Islam, Head of Policy at Friends of Europe
Finally, there’s hope for some much-needed progress in Europe’s 35-year old relationship with Southeast Asia.
In the coming weeks, top officials from the EU and the ten-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will be meeting for the second ASEAN-EU Business Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to explore mutually interesting business and investment opportunities.
An ambitious new action plan for ASEAN-EU relations is being negotiated and is expected to be unveiled when foreign ministers from both regions meet in Brunei in late-April.
Also after years of playing hard to get, the EU’s top officials are beginning to take relations with ASEAN much more seriously.
European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht will be attending the Business Summit in Cambodia. At last count, 17 EU foreign ministers (or their deputies) had signed up to meet their ASEAN counterparts in Brunei on April 27. EU foreign and security policy chief Catherine Ashton is also expected to participate.
Read the full story at Friends of Europe