An upcoming Asia-Europe (ASEM) summit will be an opportunity to demonstrate how much both sides need each other, especially at a time when economic growth is under threat, EU diplomats said Monday. The November 5-6 summit in Laos gathers all 27 EU member states and 21 from Asia, including China and India, growth engines which have both come under pressure as the eurozone debt crisis has undercut demand for their exports.
"We are a very important market for them," one EU diplomat told a briefing, and "they are equally important to us." In marked contrast as Europe grapples with recession, "even those countries that are slowing down ... have a performance we would like to have," the diplomat added.
The International Monetary Fund recently cut its Asia growth forecast for this year and next to 6.7 percent and 7.2 percent from the previous 7.1 percent and 7.5 percent. Asked about territorial disputes in Asia - principally between Japan and China, and the Southeast Asian states and China - the diplomats told a briefing that while they were not on the agenda, the EU hoped to see the problems managed peacefully.
Trade is the cornerstone of the relationship and the diplomats highlighted progress on tariff accords, bilateral at first, but which it was hoped would become the "building blocks" later of a wider regional deal. For first-half 2012, the EU's ASEM partners accounted for some 43 percent of imports by the 27 member states and took 31 percent of their exports, according to Eurostat figures.
European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso will visit Myanmar, "one of the good news states," as part of the trip to Asia to build on EU steps to encourage progress towards parliamentary democracy there, one diplomat said. European President Herman Van Rompuy will meanwhile visit Vietnam ahead of the summit which will see Norway, Switzerland and Bangladesh formally join the ASEM grouping.