Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

On behalf of my ASEAN colleagues, I would like to welcome you and the members of your delegation to this annual 6+1 session between ASEAN and the European Community. For me, it is indeed an honor and a pleasure to co-chair this meeting for the first time since the Philippines became the country coordinator for our dialogue relations two years ago. I trust that our deliberations today will further strengthen our relations and enhance the cooperation existing between our two regions.

Since the signing of the ASEAN-EC Cooperation Agreement in 1980, relations between ASEAN and EC have expanded considerably. Commercial, economic and development cooperation has expanded to embrace a wide spectrum of activities, including forestry, science and technology, energy management, trade and tourism promotion, and human resource development.

Our dialogue presents an ideal opportunity for us to review development since the 10th AEM in Manila. The Joint Declaration that we issued on that occasion reflects our common understanding and perception of many major international and regional political and economic issues as well as the state of our bilateral relations.

The 10th ASEAN-EC JCC held in Brussels in September 1992 welcomed the rapid increase in ASEAN-EC trade since the signing of the cooperation agreement in 1980. Our delegates noted that ASEAN's exports to the EC has expanded faster than its exports to any other market in the world since 1984. On the other hand, the EC's exports to ASEAN had posted a higher annual average increase than those registered for EC exports to Eastern Europe, Latin America and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. The EC continues to rank third among ASEAN's major trading partners. Taking into account the absolute strength of the two regions' economies, the meeting welcomed these results. Our officials agreed that the GSP scheme extended to ASEAN by the EC and well utilized by ASEAN had assisted in this development. ASEAN appreciates the increased emphasis of our relations on economic and industrial cooperation. We also welcome the clearer focus of ASEAN-EC cooperation and its concentration of larger-scale activities in selected sectors.

The 10th ASEAN-EC JCC also agreed to convene the sub-committees on economic and industrial cooperation, trade, narcotics, forestry and science and technology. The Sub-Committee on Forests held its first meeting in Brussels last June. We hope that these JCC sub-committees could be institutionalized in the near future on mutually agreed terms of reference.

At the 10th ASEAN-EC Ministerial Meeting (AEMM) in Manila last year, we held the view that the end of the Cold War presented unparalleled opportunities for enhanced cooperation between developed and developing nations. We called for renewed international cooperation to address the numerous concerns of developing nations, including the eradication of poverty, debt relief, access to markets, transfer of technology, and environmental protection. We also stressed the importance of the decisions of the Fourth ASEAN Summit, in particular the decision to establish the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) which would contribute to the strengthening of the open multilateral trading system and would further expand trade and investment flows between our two regions.

Both the AFTA and the SEM are outward looking, GATT-consistent and supportive of the process of trade liberalization the EC moving to a single market and ASEAN to a free trade area. We in ASEAN appreciate the EC's expression of cooperation and goodwill, through its offer to share its experiences in the European economic integration process and to provide technical assistance to strengthen the institutional capacity of the ASEAN Secretariat. We look forward to discussions with the EC on this matter in the near future.

In that meeting, we approved the four areas of cooperation: the establishment of a trade consultative mechanisms improved industrial complementation, access to the European Investment Bank (EIB) and ASEAN participation in certain areas of the EC framework programme II in research development. In this context, we wish to express our appreciation to the EC for extending the facilities of the European Investment Bank to Asia. The EIB officials have met with representatives of ASEAN Member Countries. We look forward to our actual use of EIB facilities either as an association or as individual member countries.

While we can say that the level of cooperation existing between ASEAN and EC is satisfactory, we cannot be complacent with the pace at which it progresses. We need to take a more holistic approach to ASEAN-EC dialogue relations. At our level we should be able to lay down policies that can serve as the framework for our relations.

ASEAN-EC trade has been growing steadily over the years. However, a number of ASEAN exports are still facing market access problems relating to non-tariff barriers, anti-dumping measures and rules of origin. ASEAN is also concerned that in achieving a single market, some EC measures could threaten ASEAN exports. The harmonized standards of the Single European Market (SEM) may result in stronger protectionism to the prejudice of ASEAN's export products to Europe. We, therefore, suggest that ASEAN and the EC hold more dialogues to clarify and resolve these issues and concerns. We hope that the EC will keep its doors open to ASEAN and assist us in our efforts to secure continued access to world markets technology.

While total trade with the EC is quite vigorous, it is in the area of foreign investment where ASEAN members need a stronger EC presence. We look to the operation of EIB in ASEAN and the activities of the Sub-Committee on Economic and Industrial Cooperation to spur European investment to ASEAN.

In keeping with the expanding partnership between the EC and ASEAN to strengthen rapid information networks linking business enterprises in the two regions, the Philippines and the EC signed a memorandum in July 1992 extending the European Community's Business Cooperation Network (BC-NET) to the Philippines. At the 10th AEMM, we agreed to encourage our private sectors to participate in the various ASEAN Industrial Programmes and in the EC Investment Partner (ECIP) scheme in order to encourage more ASEAN-EC joint venture projects.

Development cooperation remains an important part of our dialogue process. The EC's assistance has enabled a variety of projects to be implemented especially in the fields of human resource development, science and technology, tourism promotion and drugs and narcotics control. ASEAN also benefits from the information seminars sponsored by the EC to provide understanding of economic and political developments in the community. These activities should be continued and even improved.

And now, please allow me to touch on a human issue of interest to all of us: the Vietnamese asylum-seekers. First, I wish to express ASEAN's appreciation for EC's rehabilitation programme in Vietnam which is designed to facilitate the re-entry of boat people from the first asylum camps in Southeast Asia.

Second, I invite all to note that the process of status determination will be completed this year. Accordingly, the first asylum camps in the ASEAN countries and the processing centre for refugees in the Philippines will have to be closed, as provided for in the Comprehensive Plan of Action (CPA).

Third, ASEAN requests the EC to consider the possibility of providing assistance for the repatriation programme through increased contributions to the UNHCR.

ASEAN believes that our dialogue process should serve as a vehicle to enhance political and economic cooperation, as this would contribute towards global peace and progress for the benefit of the two regions. We thus look forward to the ASEAN-EC Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) which we will have the pleasure of hosting in Manila early next year. It is our hope that these will be institutionalized, so that there will be more fora at different levels where both sides can discuss and ventilate issues and foster interpersonal relationships.

The broad-ranging cooperative relations between ASEAN and the EC have continued to progress satisfactorily. While there remain areas of concern, we are confident that, through our close and friendly relations, we could further strengthen and broaden our relationship in the midst of the dynamic changes taking place in our two regions.

I trust that our meeting will be as ftuitful and productive as the previous meetings which we have held since the establishment of the ASEAN-EC Dialogue in 1980.

We look forward to meeting you again at the 11th ASEAN-EC Ministerial Meeting in Germany next year.