Away from the din and clamour of fractious electoral politics in India, foreign ministers and diplomats from 51 countries gathered quietly in the satellite town of Gurgaon for a two-day conclave to build bridges between Asia and Europe, home to 60 per cent of the world’s population and over half of global GDP. There is a lot riding on these discussions as the ASEM meeting seeks to script a new direction to revitalise the 17-year-old inter-continental forum.
Clearly, the 11th foreign ministers’ meeting of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) November 11-12 is the biggest international diplomatic event India is hosting in the past few years, but sadly it has not got the kind of attention it deserves amid poll fever and frenzied speculation about whether India’s prime minister will make it to the CHOGM summit in Colombo.
India’s stakes: Reinventing ASEM
Significantly, this is the first time India is hosting the meeting of foreign ministers of the 51-nation ASEM since New Delhi joined it in 2007, underlining New Delhi’s growing stakes in revitalising Asia-Europe linkages.
Sceptics have tended to be dismissive of the grouping as another talk shop which keeps thousands of diplomats and learned clerks in business, but it’s time to dig deeper. India, for one, is all too aware of this critique and is determined that the open-ended multi-dimensional dialogue forum does not descend into merely florid clichés and glittering generalities.
As chair of ASEM, India, says Syed Akbaruddin, the spokesperson of the country’s external affairs ministry, is backing “a fresh approach that would reorient discussions of ASEM meetings from dialogue towards actual tangible cooperation, thereby taking ASEM to the next level of maturity.” This “fresh approach” would entail tightening the focus of ASEM, whose agenda has expanded to include just about every cross-cutting issue under the sun. In India’s assessment, it’s important to underline the singularity of the grouping in the wake of the proliferation of many other multilateral groupings by mapping out concrete areas of developmental cooperation that would buttress its relevance and enhance much-needed public support for this unique grouping that seeks to act as a vibrant inter-continental bridge. From India’s point of view, as External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said at the ASEM meet in Vientiane last year, ASEM needs a more focussed approach towards terrorism, maritime security, issues of food and energy security. At the Gurgaon meeting, India will also be focusing on issues that have a direct bearing on the lives of people like renewable energy, food safety, water management and disaster mitigation. Fittingly, at New Delhi’s suggestion, the forthcoming ASEM foreign ministers’ meeting has been themed: “ASEM: Bridge to Partnership for Growth and Development.”
Why ASEM matters
Building bridges is, after all, the job of diplomacy, so what’s so unique about ASEM? And what’s the point of reinvigorating the dialogue forum which has yet to go visibly beyond talk?
For one thing, ASEM is a multilateral forum exclusively focused on bringing Asia and Europe together on an entire gamut of issues bearing on growth and development of the two continents. Sustainable and inclusive growth is the guiding mantra.
Secondly, the need for closer Asia-Europe cooperation is greater than ever. The Eurozone, once the bastion of economic prosperity, has experienced a painfully prolonged trauma of recession, accelerating the shift of the economic gravity from the west to the east, or more appropriately, from Europe to Asia. However, there has been a reversal of fortunes recently – the developed economies of the Eurozone are strengthening and the emerging economies of Asia are not in robust shape. In 2008, when the recession hit Europe, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso had sought Asia’s support. Six years later, the situation is a mixed one: both Asia and Europe need each other more than ever to shore up their economic fortunes. The economic interdependence between the two continents has only increased over the years; in a sense the economic destinies of Asia and Europe are increasingly intertwined. Facts speak for themselves: Trade between the EU and Asian ASEM countries is estimated to be over $1.2 billion USD. Asia remains a preferred destination for EU outward investment. The health of European economies fuel export-oriented economies of Asia and vice versa. Last year, Asia accounted for 29.8 per cent of EU imports and 21.4 per cent of exports. China (12.5%), Japan (3.4%), India (2.2%), South Korea (2.2%) and Singapore (1.5%) are amongst the EU’s top ten trading partners.
Thirdly, despite the fluctuation in economic fortunes, Europe remains the repository of cutting-edge technologies and an important player in shaping the contours of global economic governance.
Fourthly, ASEM could also be potentially an important forum for spurring democratisation of the world order. ASEM comprises four permanent members of the UN Security Council (Britain, France, China and Russia) and three credible aspiring candidates for a reformed UNSC – India, Japan and Germany. Against this backdrop, the ASEM can act as a catalyst for reconfiguring the nature of North-South cooperation and a forum for debating an inclusive world order.
The Way Ahead
At the end of the ASEM foreign ministers’ meeting leading to the summit in Italy next year, there may not be any headline-hogging outcomes; but not many will contest that there are innumerable win-win opportunities in rejuvenating this premium forum for Asia-Europe cooperation in a rapidly mutating world order marked by a dramatic shift of power from the west to the rest. The key, as New Delhi sees it, will be in moving from good intentions to a result-oriented programme of tangible inter-continental cooperation that directly impacts people’s lives and addresses shared challenges in a democratic and pragmatic manner.
Author Profile
- 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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