Making ASEM work: Building people’s bridge between Asia and Europe

- by Manish Chand | Manish Chand

Iasem-groupnter-bridging Asia and Europe, the foreign ministers of the two dynamic continents, home to over 3 billion people and over half of global GDP, have taken a leap beyond rhetoric to mint a new template of actionable steps to make the forum more result-oriented and people-centric.

India, the chair of the 11th ASEM Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (ASEM FMM11), led from the front to undergird the inter-continental forum with cement and mortar of concrete projects that promise to transform the lives of people in more than fifty countries comprising this evolving forum.

In the 10 areas identified for tangible cooperation, India has registered its interest and proactive participation in nine of them, which includes disaster mitigation, sustainable water management; waste management; cooperation among small and medium enterprises; renewable energy; energy efficiency technologies; higher education and vocational training & skills development; and education and human resources development.

Making ASEM people-centric

asem-ansariMost important, the pitch to make ASEM more people-centric found resonance and support across the spectrum. Inaugurating the biggest diplomatic gathering hosted by India in recent times, which was attended by foreign ministers from 34 countries, India’s Vice-President Hamid Ansari underlined the need to invest the ASEM outcomes with tangible deliverables and to broaden its canvas to include multi-layered dialogue among civil societies. “We should look to optimize ASEM’s potential with a sense of greater urgency. We should endeavour to take it beyond being a forum for political dialogue only, make it reach out to the people of Member States and create wider stake-holding amongst economic partners and civil society,” he said November 10.  “Collective action under ASEM can strengthen the understanding between our peoples, the dynamism in our economies and the realization of our developmental priorities,” he stressed.

India’s External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, too, underscored the need for creating a wider people’s ownership of the ASEM process. The aim of ASEM, Mr Khurshid stressed, was to bring “into homes and offices of people across Asia and Europe and allow us to bring in members of civil society, business, media and Parliaments as our partners in strengthening it as a bridge between the two continents.” He spoke about the efforts to move ASEM beyond a “declaratory political dialogue, towards tangible deliverables and concrete action in a more determined manner.”

“If our civil society, academia and media representatives meet and interact more often, there is a sense of ownership among ordinary people,” Mr Khurshid said in response to a question from www.indiawrites at the end of the two-day conclave November 11.

The ASEM foreign ministers’ meeting ended with the setting up of a Working Group on Press and Public Awareness Strategy and another one on devising a road map for the 20th anniversary celebrations of ASEM in 2016.

The ASEM foreign minister’s meeting had wide-ranging agenda and culminated in a joint resolve to cooperative across a wide swathe of cross-cutting areas, including inclusive and sustainable development, mitigating global financial crisis, climate finance and multilateral trade negotiations.

No segmented approach to terrorism

asem-khurshidThere was a sharp focus on intensifying inter-continental cooperation to combat terrorism and financing that feeds it. “Ministers exchanged views on strategies to meet non-traditional security challenges such as all aspects of terrorism, drug trafficking, money laundering and cyber crime,” said the chair’s statement at the end of the conclave. Underlining the need for a comprehensive global approach to counter terrorism, the ministers also called for greater cooperation to meet “other emerging threats such as piracy, smuggling, transnational crimes, human trafficking, illegal migration, arms trafficking and trafficking in plant and animal products, particularly in endangered species.”

In a spirited intervention at the closed-door retreat session of the ASEM, Mr Khurshid, according to reliable sources, highlighted that “international terrorism continues to grow in sophistication and reach, confronting many of our countries as a transnational menace.” Warning against the dangers of “segmented approaches,” he underlined the need to increase the effectiveness of collective action to counter terrorism with zero tolerance. “We need concerted and cohesive global action against terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.”

Betting on post-2014 Afghan stability

Against the backdrop of the phased withdrawal of international combat troops from Afghanistan, India also placed the future of post-2014 Afghanistan squarely on the ASEM agenda. At the closed-door discussion on regional and international issues, Mr Khurshid highlighted that the principal threat to Afghanistan’s security and stability emanated from terrorism. He underlined that development and security assistance during this period of transition and beyond to Afghanistan would be critical to build a peaceful, stable and resilient Afghanistan. Declaring India’s support for establishing a peaceful dialogue with all opposition groups, he stressed that this process must be “an Afghan-led, Afghan-owned reconciliation process,” and cautioned that the reconciliation process should not in any way, undermine the political, social, and economic progress witnessed in Afghanistan over the past decade.

The Future is Now

Looking ahead to the future of ASEM, action will be the watchword. To make a more dynamic partnership between Asia and Europe possible in reality, the stakeholders must follow up on implementing tangible result-oriented initiatives in a time-bound manner. Bolstering public support for this Asia-Europe partnership will be crucial to the success of ASEM in days to come.

 

Author Profile

Manish Chand
Manish Chand
Manish Chand is Founder-CEO and Editor-in-Chief of India Writes Network (www.indiawrites.org) and India and World, a pioneering magazine focused on international affairs. He is CEO/Director of TGII Media Private Limited, an India-based media, publishing, research and consultancy company.

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