Need for Asia and Europe dialogue cited

MANILA, Philippines - The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit in Brussels reaffirmed the importance of the strategic dialogue and common commitment between Asia and Europe.

The 8th ASEM Summit was held in Brussels on Oct. 4 to 5, bringing together heads of state and government from 46 Asian and European countries, as well as the leaders of the ASEAN secretariat led by secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan and the European Union led by European Council president Herman Van Rompuy, and European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.

Key issues addressed by leaders in the summit summarized in a Chair’s Statement, together with a separate Brussels Declaration on More Effective Global Economic governance, included global economic governance, sustainable development, cooperation in global issues, exchange of views on key regional issues, and people-to-people relations.

The global economic governance was addressed to underline the importance of strengthening the sources of growth and continuing structural reforms, delivering on the projected reforms in the field of financial regulation and supervision, modernizing the international financial institutions, and promptly concluding the WTO Doha Development Agenda.

In cooperation in global issues, piracy at sea, terrorism and organized crime, disaster prevention and relief, human rights were addressed, and views were exchanged on key regional issues such as the Middle East Peace Process, Burma, DPRK and Iran.