Activites

• 2002/02/28 Final act published in Official Journal
• 2001/06/13 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T5-0329/2001 summary

    The European Parliament adopted the resolution by Mr Elmar BROK (EPP-ED, D) which outlines the possible ways of strengthening links with Asian countries. The House wants any state which does not subscribe to the notions of democracy and respect for human rights and the law to be excluded from EU programme and future meetings. Moreover, the Parliament recommends that the political pillar of the ASEM process should include a comprehensive approach on all conflict prevention and peace keeping, e.g supporting political dialogue between North and South Korea, as well as between China and Taiwan on the question of Taiwan. There is also an appeal to to increase diplomatic efforts to tackle the problems in the Middle East and Afghanistan. Lastly, the Commission and the Council are called upon to adopt comprehensive measures which will enable effective action to be taken against the main infectious diseases (AIDS, tuberculosis, etc.) which ravage the countries concerned. Measures should also be adopted which will safeguard the rights of women, prevent sex discrimination and combat female prostitution.�

• 2001/06/12 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 2001/05/29 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A5-0207/2001
• 2000/10/23 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
• 2000/04/18 Non-legislative basic document published
  • COM(2000)0241 summary

    PURPOSE : To present the priorities for the third Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Seoul in October 2000. CONTENT : The ASEM process began with the Bangkok Summit in March 1996. Its objective is to build a comprehensive partnership based on the promotion of three pillars: political dialogue, the deepening of economic relations, and the reinforcement of cultural links between peoples. The second ASEM Summit in London in 1998 was overshadowed by the Asian financial crisis, but confirmed Europe's commitment to the Asian recovery. In particular, Europe pledged to keep markets open in the face of any protectionist pressures which may arise from the crisis and agreed to launch an ASEM Trust Fund to provide technical expertise to help address the financial and social issues arising from the crisis. The Seoul Summit offers an excellent opportunity to re-position the Asia-Europe relationship in the post-crisis situation and the age of globalisation of international relations. ASEM's strengths as a forum are informality, in the sense of dialogue rather than negotiation, multi-dimensionality of topics, and high level participation. In identifying future priorities, a distinction is made between general priorities and specific priorities for action in the short-term. General priorities are set out in each of the three pillars and are largely based on the on-going work in the ASEAN process. They seek to build on achievements to date and propose a deepening of relations between the two regions. These priorities should be incorporated into the updated Asia-Europe Cooperation Framework which will be adopted in Seoul, and which will set out the general parameters of the ASEM process in the next decade. Five specific priorities are also suggested: - an enhanced exchange of views on regional and global security issues. The Union and ASEM partners should share their respective regional experiences in fields such as analysis, planning and training in relation to conflict prevention and peace-keeping, reconciliation process, humanitarian assistance and other aspects of "soft" security cooperation. Exchanges on piracy and cyber warfare will be important. Fostering encouragement for universal compliance with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, amongst others, could also be on the agenda. - an enhanced result-orientated cooperation on trade and economic issues, including dialogue on social policy issues. This includes particularly the launching of comprehensive WTO negotiations aiming at both further trade liberalisation and the strengthening of the WTO's rules-based system. - intensified educational exchanges between the two regions. This would include a target for additional scholarships of producing a five-fold increase in student exchanges between the two regions in ten years, and the launching of a high-level ASEM Scholarship programme. - networking and cooperation in the field of consumer protection. Food safety and eco-labelling are of interest to the peoples of both regions. - possible enlargement of participation in the ASEM process. This matter is under consideration by Foreign Ministers and certain basic parameters for enlargement are already under discussion. It is important for the process to reach practical conclusions at Seoul. �

  • DG ['External Relations'],

Documents

• Non-legislative basic document published: COM(2000)0241
• Committee report tabled for plenary, single reading: A5-0207/2001
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T5-0329/2001

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)