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Dear colleagues, Excellencies, Mr Mayor, Ladies and gentlemen,
It is with pleasure that I welcome you to the Foreign Ministers Meeting between the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. This is our sixteenth meeting – the number of times we have met shows just how intense and close the relations between us have become.
I would like to welcome all of you to Nuremberg, but especially all of you who have come from overseas! Nuremberg is a city which, even in the fifteenth century, had a trading network that extended to Southeast Asia and India.
This cosmopolitan tradition is still alive today: in July, Nuremberg will host the "Asia Pacific Forum" and you, Mr Ong, will be here once again as ASEAN Secretary-General to open this showcase for Asian business and culture.
At this point, I would like to thank the City of Nuremberg and its mayor, Dr Maly. Thank you for giving such a warm welcome to forty ministerial delegations from the EU and Southeast Asia. We also thank you for your active support in preparing for this meeting.
Ladies and gentlemen,
2007 is a special year – both for the EU and for ASEAN. In the EU, we will be celebrating fifty years of the Treaties of Rome in a few days' time. On 8 August this year, ASEAN will celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the Bangkok Declaration.
We also celebrate another joint anniversary this year: thirty years of official relations between the EU and ASEAN. In February 1977, ASEAN ministers adopted an initiative to this effect. In September 1978, our Foreign Ministers met together for the first time in Brussels.
These anniversaries are occasions for us all to look back on a successful process of integration within both our regional organizations. And on increasingly closer cooperation between the EU and ASEAN.
But let us also look ahead to the tasks facing us in the future. The challenges posed by climate change are obvious; for you in Southeast Asia and for us in Europe. At its last summit, the EU set itself very ambitious climate targets. But these targets will only be fully effective if other international partners come on board, too.
Energy policy is closely linked to a modern policy on climate change. And so energy is another area where we will have to explore new avenues together.
Joint efforts are also required for trade-related issues. The EU is the second-largest export market and the third-largest trading partner of the ASEAN countries. Let us therefore work together to bring the world trade negotiations to a successful conclusion.
Finally, we should continue to cooperate closely – indeed, even more closely – on security policy. Crisis regions such as the Middle East or Afghanistan hold potential security risks for us all, and international terrorism poses an equal threat to the citizens of all our countries. By cooperating on the monitoring mission in Aceh, the EU and ASEAN have broken new ground. Let us build on this.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The list of future tasks is long, but one thing is clear: we will only be able to face them if we work together. The era of nation-states is over – at least to the extent that none of our countries can solve these problems on its own.
Together, however, we have a huge pool of resources at our disposal. Some 500 million people live in the EU today, 560 million in the ASEAN countries – that is over one billion citizens, or one-sixth of the world's population. There is no question about it – together, we can achieve much!
I do hope that we can conduct our discussions today and tomorrow in this spirit. Europe and Asia need strong, established regional organizations such as the EU and ASEAN which – through regional integration and closer cooperation between and amongst each other – are working towards peace and prosperity.
On that note, let me welcome you once again – may these talks be productive for all of us.
