September 20, 2002	Friday	Rajab 12, 1423

SINGAPORE: Asian leaders aim at narrowing a cultural divide and seek greater market access for their products at a summit with their European Union (EU) counterparts in Denmark next week.

“I think that Asia better understands Europe than Europe understands Asia,” Delfin Colome, head of the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF), said.

Myanmar, a perennial thorn in relations between the EU and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), is officially not on this year’s agenda which is expected to be dominated by the fight against terrorism, developments on the Korean Peninsula, and trade and economic concerns.

Among the Asian leaders attending the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit are Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad and Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri — leaders of the key Muslim nations in Southeast Asia, a region said to be the second front in the global fight against terrorism.

A Singapore-based diplomat said that with the US still beating the drums of war against Iraq, despite Baghdad’s decision to readmit UN weapons inspectors, the Sept 22-24 summit should send a “political message” opposing the unilateralist tendencies by Washington.

On the summit sidelines, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will brief South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung on his recent path-breaking visit to the Stalinist North Korea and meetings with Pyongyang’s reclusive leader Kim Jong-Il.

The South Korean leader is to call for international help for peace on the Korean peninsula in an address to ASEM, his aides said.

Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji is also attending the ASEM which covers the 15 EU members and 10 East Asian states — China, Japan and South Korea as well as ASEAN members: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra expects to raise the Thai-sponsored Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), regional security, and cooperation on terrorism and drugs.

“The other topic Thailand is concerned about is about tariff barriers which it fears will create more of a gap between the rich and poor countries,” a government spokesman said in Bangkok.

Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has backed out of the summit, citing more pressing issues at home, but Manila’s representative may push for lower EU tariffs on tuna exports.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai will aim to strengthen Hanoi’s ties with the EU on economics, trade and investment, a spokesman said.

World issues and domestic concerns aside, diplomats said the EU and Asian leaders should use the biennial summit, launched in 1996 to bring the two continents closer together, to take stock of their relations.

“I think this is the moment to make an inventory of what’s happening in the Asia-Europe ties. It’s good to see how things are evolving,” said Colome from ASEF, a Singapore-based foundation under ASEM, tasked with helping bridge the inter-continental gap through the cultural and intellectual activities as well as people-to-people contact.

Colome said Europe’s current view of Asia has been focussed largely on China and the market of 1.2 billion people it offers.

“In Europe, Asia continues to be something exotic. But I am confident that globalisation is going to overcome this... When people lose this exotic character, dialogue becomes easier,” he said.—AFP