The 13th Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem) wrapped up Friday, with three statements spelling out pledges of cooperation as well as expressing concern over the crisis in Myanmar and territorial tensions.
“I am firmly confident that these outcome documents will significantly contribute toward building a safer and more prosperous world,” Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said during the closing ceremony.
“I also believe that this Asia-Europe partnership and cooperation will make a significant contribution to sustainability and promotion of multilateralism, which is a force to bring about peace and prosperity for the people of Asia, Europe, and the world for decades to come,” he added.
In a joint news conference after the meeting, European Council President Charles Michel said, “Our new European Union strategy for cooperation with the Indo-Pacific sends a strong political signal.”
“We want to work closely together on green, digital connectivity and security issues,” he said.
Hun Sen’s government has bristled at the EU’s trade sanctions against his country over human rights. But cooperation in the face of the pandemic was a major theme this time: “Leaders acknowledged that the Covid-19 pandemic is strongly affecting the global economy, livelihoods and well-being of millions of people in Europe and Asia,” reads the Phnom Penh Statement, a document released after the meeting.
“Recovery from the pandemic provides an important opportunity to accelerate their transitions toward a resilient, digital, low carbon, sustainable and inclusive socio-economic recovery as well as promote orderly and just transitions toward green, circular, and more sustainable economies.”
The coronavirus – once again raising alarm over a potentially more infectious new variant – has disrupted global supply chains.
Southeast Asia has become a key manufacturing hub for a wide range of parts and products, but containment measures have led to factory closures and labour shortages.
Meanwhile, the EU that used to sharply criticise the US-China trade war turned protectionist, restricting vaccine exports and gearing policies toward self-sufficiency.
The Asem participants this week resolved to fix broken supply links and promote the multilateral trading system.
“Leaders were committed to reducing trade barriers or disruption to global supply chains,” the statement said. “Any respective trade-restrictive or distorting measures should be wound back when they are no longer necessary to tackle the pandemic,” it added.
Responding to past criticism, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen promised to provide vaccines to Asia. “The EU supports the goal of a 70% global vaccination rate by mid-2022,” she said at the news conference.
“We will continue sharing vaccines with the world and we will continue being the leading force of Covax.”
The digital shift was another focus. In Europe and Asia alike, the crisis has made digitalisation all the more crucial – from working at home to using cashless payments. But access to such technology is not equally available.
In the statement, Asian and European leaders “urged governments to speed up the planning of digitalisation in response to the people’s needs”.
They also agreed to enhance cooperation in bridging the digital divide, particularly in digital infrastructure development, provision of digital skills as well as digital literacy and capacity building.
Additionally, the countries agreed to work toward restoring flows of people across borders with mutual recognition of Covid-19 vaccine certificates.
This could be especially beneficial to economies such as Thailand and France, where tourism generates large portions of gross domestic product.
The chairman’s statement, meanwhile, emphasised the importance of functioning democratic institutions, inclusiveness and the rule of law.
In this context, the leaders criticised the military takeover in Myanmar that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government in February.
“Leaders expressed deep concerns on the situation in Myanmar and affirmed their strong support for Asean’s efforts to de-escalate the crisis,” the statement said.
In mid-October, Asean sent Brunei’s Second Foreign Minister Erywan Yusof as a special envoy to Myanmar, but his visit was abruptly cancelled as the regime refused to let him meet Suu Kyi.
This led to military leader Min Aung Hlaing being denied an invitation to the Asean summit in late October. Since then, Myanmar’s government has not participated in any international conferences, Asem included.
Cambodia hosted this meeting, while being subject to trade sanctions by the EU in response to the government’s clampdown on political opponents of Hun Sen.
The chairman’s statement also delivered an indirect warning regarding China’s naval expansion in waters including the South China Sea.
“Leaders reaffirmed their commitment to maintain peace, stability and ensuring maritime security and safety, to uphold freedom of navigation and overflight, unimpeded economic activities, and to combat piracy and armed robbery at sea, in full compliance with international law,” the statement said.
The third document named the Way Forward on Asem Connectivity illustrated recommendations to improve information sharing between the regions and among attending countries.
The Asem, normally held every two years since 1996, was last held in Brussels in 2018. Cambodia was set to host in 2020 but postponed it due to the pandemic.
The next Asem meeting in 2023 will be held in Europe.