EU and ASEAN officially establish the European Union (EU) Mission to ASEAN
An official inauguration ceremony was held for the formal establishment of the European Union (EU) Mission to ASEAN. The ceremony was attended by H.E. Le Luong Minh, Secretary General of ASEAN; H.E. Patrick Child, Director General for Budget and Administration, European External Action Service (EEAS), Brussels; H.E. Derry Aman, the Director for ASEAN Dialogue Partners and Inter-Regional Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia; H.E. Francisco Fontan Pardo, EU Ambassador to ASEAN; and also H.E. Vincent Guérend, EU Ambassador to Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam.
Both H.E. Patrick Child and H.E. Le Luong Minh marked the ceremony by unveiling the plaque. Stressing the significance of the EU's overall relations with Asia, Patrick Child hopes to strengthen the strategic partnership between EU and ASEAN. “We look forward to elevating the EU-ASEAN partnership to the strategic level, as we truly believe that our respective regions have a lot of benefit from each other's experiences and agendas, as we are, after all, ‘partners in connectivity', as you say in ASEAN,” he said.
Similarly, the target of this mission is “relatively straightforward but at the same time very ambitious” according to Fontan Pardo, as the EU tries to improve the relationship with ASEAN that in essence is already very strong in cultural, economic, security, maritime and more sectors.
On a bilateral level, Vincent Guérend also discusses the importance for EU and Indonesia to have a two-way communication. The ambassador reveals that the two have long managed to work together particularly in areas like education and climate change. Speaking to Indonesia Expat, he further highlights the benefit of this form of interaction on establishing international ties. “We also want countries providing more high-tech assistance to have a mutual strategic dialogue with Indonesia on the global issues, either climate change or security. As a matter of fact, just a few days ago there were several more conversations between Prime Minister Marsudi and High Representative Mrs. Mogherini on the tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia because they're both very actively trying to diffuse the tension.”
The EU Mission to ASEAN was opened on 8 August in Jakarta, aiming to preserve and improve EU's engagement with ASEAN and accomplish a strategic partnership.