20 March 2014 - The European Union Committee of Permanent Representatives (EU Coreper) met their counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Brussels on February 27. This historic meeting was organized by the European External Action Service (EEAS) as part of the first EU-ASEAN Dialogue on Connectivity from February 24 to 28.

The Philippines was represented by the Philippine Permanent Representative to the ASEAN, Ambassador Elizabeth P. Buensuceso. She was joined by Philippine Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg and Head of the Philippine Mission to the EU Victoria S. Bataclan.

The Dialogue is part of a commitment made by both sides to raise the EU-ASEAN cooperation to a higher level as set out in the Bandar Seri Begawan Plan of Action to Strengthen the EU-ASEAN Enhanced Partnership, 2013-2017.

At the meeting, the Ambassadors of the Member States of both regional organizations took stock of the ongoing EU-ASEAN cooperation and discussed priorities for future work. They exchanged lessons learned on successes and challenges in their respective regional integration processes.

As set out in the Bandar Seri Begawan Plan of Action, the EU-ASEAN cooperation currently focuses on peace and security cooperation, economic and trade links, socio-cultural cooperation and institutional support to ASEAN.

Meanwhile, the EU-ASEAN Connectivity Dialogue provided both the EU and ASEAN an opportunity to share their experience in relation to connectivity, taking into account the EU-ASEAN partnership and the Bandar Seri Begawan Plan of Action. It was specifically convened with the objective of: (a) exchanging experiences in the three pillars of connectivity; (b) exploring possibilities of EU financing the Master Plan of Action on ASEAN Connectivity; (c) exploring private investment opportunities, especially in enhancing “physical connectivity”; (d) identifying axes for future exchange and cooperation; and (e) preparing for the upcoming EU-ASEAN Ministerial meeting.  END