European Union's relations with Asia

The European Commission launched in 1994 a policy document called "Towards a New Strategy for Asia". This paper had two main objectives: raise the EU's profile in Asia, and strengthen Europe's economic presence in the region.

Since the European Council in Essen, several specific country papers have seen the light of day, while the first Asia-Europe meeting (ASEM) - at the level of heads of state or government - took place in Bangkok last year and EU-ASEAN relations continue to strengthen.

Asia is of great importance to Europe. At present we export more to Asia than to North America, and European investment in Asia is growing fast. It is here that Australia and Europe have converging and complementary interests. Europe as the largest trader and investor in the world and Australia with its geographical proximity to Asia, stable business climate and multicultural society.

In this context it is crucial that Europe is in some way associated with the APEC process and that Australia becomes involved in the EU-Asia dialogue through ASEM. You know that the European Union attaches great importance to its relations with Australia and we hope we will soon be able to conclude a joint declaration which will formalise and strengthen our co-operation agenda and dialogue.

We know we have Australia's support for our request for dialogue with APEC as Australia has our support to be associated with the ASEM process. If it were up to the two of us these issues would have been settled some time ago, but we are unfortunately not alone in the decisional process.

It can be expected that co-operation between Australia and the EU will intensify as a result of our mutual interests in Asia and the further development of the WTO.

Our interests in Asia make Australia an attractive base for European firms to establish regional headquarters and Europe and Australia could work closely together in addressing the challenges regarding the major issues related to the fast-growing economies in Asia.