Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, soon I will be joining the ranks of the trade politicians and then at least I will get an invitation to a cocktail party. For the rest, however, I have no trouble at all in joining in this debate because in this very area which we are now called on to discuss, that is ASEM, we also have to ensure that we have increased parliamentary participation. That is why we also propose in our report that there should be a second ASEP parliamentary conference before the ASEM IV Summit. Clever executives always get parliaments involved when foreign policy or trade are at issue. That is why we ask in this connection in the report – and this is one of the most important requests that we make – that the Council and in particular also the Commission should keep the European Parliament informed of developments in this area. In particular, they should also report on the implementation of the decisions made at each meeting: this information could then be fed into a process of parliamentary supervision which could be used to speed up progress. I believe that this is in the common interest because this particular initiative, ASEM, is of such exceptional importance. If both groups – the European Union in Europe and ASEAN in Asia –, which are after all stable, work together with other states in Asia and manage to cooperate closely in such important areas as the three pillars identified within this process, namely political, economic and cultural dialogue, this can have undreamt-of implications for stability in these regions and throughout the world. That is why I believe that we should take this ASEAN process as seriously as possible, place greater emphasis on it and make it a higher priority. With your permission, I will illustrate this by way of a few examples. If we manage to table a number of political proposals at the ASEM III Summit, which we are reporting on here, and then also in the run-up to ASEM IV – for example in the area of conflict prevention – then I believe that a considerable amount can be achieved here. You only have to think of the People's Republic of China and Taiwan or North and South Korea. I believe that together in a multilateral process of this kind we can make an important contribution to the situation developing peacefully and decisions being made which benefit the people in the region concerned, but also foster peaceful development in the world as a whole. At this point, I should simply like to recall the issue of the proliferation of weapons, because we do actually have political contacts and relations with one or two of the ASEM members, or we have developed mutually dependent relationships with them, and through this it is possible to exert considerable influence to prevent the dangerous proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and carrier weapons. In this way we can make a contribution to world peace. If we also succeed in internalising this political process and implementing the commitments made in respect of the rule of law, democracy and human rights there, then this is very significant, not only for human rights and the rule of law, but also for the stability of the whole region. In the economic area, these two groups, which are working together in Asia, should also see to it that they use their combined weight to foster positive global economic development, by preparing for WTO negotiations together and by cooperating fruitfully in international fora and the UN. They should ensure that there is greater stability in the field of financial services and, where trade agreements are concerned, they should ensure that social standards are gradually raised across the board so as to contribute to there being greater justice in this world. If, in addition, we manage to be active in the third pillar, in the area of cultural relations, by involving people, groups and those working in the cultural sector, and in this way bring people together, because cultural relations do after all lead to ties being formed, then this would seem to be a further important starting point for making a decisive contribution to greater stability in our world. We call on the Commission to table specific proposals for the next ASEM conference in its working document on the development plan for the ASEM process in the next decade and to discuss these with us. Commissioner Patten, I am sure that we will do this in a joint dialogue drawing on your experience in this region, so that we will be able to make a contribution to creating a better world.

Political group: PPE-DE