Madam President, President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, I should also like to start by thanking Mr Maaten for an excellent report. Although not a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, I have followed the matter and read the report, and I found it excellent. I have a few reservations about some of the details, but on the whole it is an exceptionally good report. We all, of course, believe it is important for the ASEM meeting in Copenhagen at the end of the month to be a success. The economic issues, which are extremely important for relations between the EU and the ASEAN countries, will naturally be discussed. These key issues have been developed further in recent years. Something we ought to develop further is cooperation in the area of foreign policy, i.e. the EU should join with Asia in adopting a committed role in conflicts around the globe and play a more active part. I therefore believe it was positive that Sweden addressed the Korean question during the Swedish Presidency, and I hope this cooperation can continue. I have some experience of environmental issues. With regard to the global environment, I believe it is very important to cooperate with the Asian countries. We have a lot in common and we have the same viewpoints. Since these are global issues, we see that the US is dragging its feet in this area. We know that we need to get the US on board. We stand a better chance of succeeding if we can create a coalition with the countries in Asia around these issues. We must also continue to cooperate on human rights issues, an area in which it has – quite rightly – been said that many of these countries have considerable problems. I remain, however, convinced that dialogue will improve our chances of moving forward in this area, too. I should now like to turn to dialogue-related issues. I am back from the ASEP meeting in Manila, where I was one of the delegates. Although there were differences between us, I must say that the atmosphere was good. We managed to agree on a joint communiqué. At the Manila meeting we tried to focus on three areas: firstly, terrorism; secondly, environmental issues; and thirdly, human rights issues. We managed to agree on all three. What I would stress above all with regard to the fight against terrorism is that it must be conducted under the auspices of the UN and within the framework of international law. It is also important that the UN’s various conventions be ratified. I have already mentioned the environmental aspect, which is a global issue. Global warming is the most important question. It is important that we should all ratify the Kyoto Protocol. Furthermore, we must try to get the US first to sign it, and then ratify it. We also discussed the need to mobilise civil society in the context of the environment and of human rights. We are very concerned about the human rights situation, which has been deteriorating in recent years. More cooperation is needed in this area. As Mr Ford said, it is important to have continuity in our relations at government level. At the same time, it is important to have continuity in relations at parliamentary level. I therefore hope that an ASEP meeting can be organised in connection with the next ASEM meeting in 2004.

Political group: PSE