The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) on Oct 16 to Oct 17 will discuss economic, political and security issues in a bid to strengthen partnership, says a diplomat with the EU delegation to Bangladesh.
President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy will chair the 10th ASEM meeting of 51 members, hosted by Italy.
Bangladesh which has been inducted as a member of this Asian and European grouping in the last meeting will also take part.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will lead Bangladesh delegation.
‘Supreme’ gathering
ASEM began its journey in 1996 with 26 members.
But the significance of the grouping has encouraged more countries to join over the years, the diplomat, who preferred to remain unnamed, told bdnews24.com.
He termed it a “supreme” meeting since ASEM represents half of the world’s GDP, more than 60 percent of the world’s population, and around 60 percent of global trade.
Summits are held every two years, alternatively in Asia and Europe.
He said this year there would be separate sessions for the members of parliament, the business sector and civil society, academia and the media.
Officials say the prime minister will take a big business delegation on her entourage for the meeting.
Croatia and Kazakhstan will be inducted as new members in this meeting.
Responsible partnership
The theme of this year’s meeting is “Responsible Partnership for Growth and Security”.
By saying “responsible partnership” in the theme, the Dhaka-based diplomat said, ASEM is increasingly moving towards a “broader-based partnership” to address global and regional challenges jointly.
“And it believes both Europe and Asia should act responsibly, abiding by their joint commitment to environmental protection, social dialogue, eradicating poverty, promotion and protection of human rights,” he said.
“In today’s world security concerns are trans-national in nature. It requires collective effort to address.
“There is no growth or development without security in broader sense,” the EU diplomat said listing maritime security, non-traditional security, social security, food security and nuclear security, among others.
He said the situation in Ukraine and South China Sea and East China Sea would also be discussed under security agenda.
“Here Bangladesh can be referred to as ‘a fabulous model’ since you have settled two maritime issues peacefully through international arbitration,” he said.
The diplomat said on the security front, Bangladesh had also a role to play since it was the top contributor to. UN peacekeeping and peace building co-operations.
Growth, security interlinked
Europe continues to be a primary export market for Asia and a source of technological innovation.
“Our interdependency goes way beyond economic ties. Our security is interlinked. Conflicts in our neighbourhood have repercussions on our respective regions,” the diplomat said.
The focus this year will be “no sustainable growth without security and no security without sustainable growth”.
According to official data from ASEM, the EU has become one of the leading trading partners of every Asian country with an annual average growth rate in trade of 5.8 percent from 2008 to 2012.
The EU is also a major investor in Asia.
It is the largest export market for Bangladesh where all products enjoy duty-free access.
The diplomat said during the meeting the partner countries would discuss better connectivity both in terms of physical infrastructure as well as people-to-people contacts.
“In every aspect in this global village we are inter-dependent, be it economic issues or health,” the diplomat said referring to the recent Ebola outbreaks in some African countries that triggered global alarm.
“The answer can only be collective response.”
He said the EU has “an interest to strengthen our economies and to pursue structural reforms both in Europe and Asia to underpin economic growth”.
“We are committed to strengthening mutual trade and investment”.
At the end of the ASEM meeting, there will be a ‘chair’s statement’ that will reflect collective voice of the member countries.
Between two summits, a foreign minister-level meeting assesses the progress partner countries made after the biennial meeting.