Federica Mogherini steps up EU engagement with ASEAN in Kuala Lumpur
Federica Mogherini i, has travelled to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 5-6 August where she attended the ASEAN Regional Forum's (ARF) annual Ministerial Meeting and co-chaired together with Viet Nam, the EU-ASEAN Post Ministerial Conference (PMC). In addition she held various bilateral meetings.
The ARF Ministerial remains the main opportunity in the region for multilateral debates on pressing security challenges in the Asia Pacific. It brings all the relevant players around ASEAN and its 10 member states together: the US, China, Japan, Korea, DPRK, Russia, India, Australia and the EU plus many others. In fact, this is the greatest concentration of Foreign Affairs Ministers outside the UN General Assembly.
The ASEAN-EU 'Post Ministerial Conference' is the moment when ASEAN briefs the EU on the outcome of the just-concluded ASEAN Ministerial Meeting and is a good opportunity to review the overall state of the EU-ASEAN relationship and to discuss its future direction.
At both multilateral meetings, the HRVP marked EU's wish for a more ambitious, security-based and political region-to-region partnership. ASEAN ministers welcomed EU's overall strategy to step up its cooperation with ASEAN on basis of the EU May Joint Communication 'The EU and ASEAN: a partnership with a strategic purpose' and the June conclusions of the Foreign Affairs Council.
Ms. Mogherini also emphasised EU's enduring engagement in and with Asian partners on regional security challenges such as the South China Sea dispute, the Korean Peninsula, trans-national crime, counter-terrorism, but evenly on overall regional maritime security and preventive diplomacy.
In addition, the Ministers exchanged views on pressing international issues including Iran and Ukraine. Several ministers, at the PMC and bilaterally, congratulated the HRVP and praised EU's role in the recent achievements with Iran.
In the margins of these multilateral meetings, the HRVP took the opportunity to also meet bilaterally with several ASEAN Foreign Ministers and Ministers from outside the region.
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HRVP's written interview with Bernama
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