The European Union launched its Indo-Pacific Cooperation Strategy in 2021 with the aim of creating partnerships with the regional institutions: ASEAN, the Pacific Islands Forum and the Indian Ocean Rim Association. Priorities of this strategy include sustainable and inclusive prosperity, human security and green transition.
To further explore the green transition, Minister Albares introduced a panel discussion on behalf of the European Union. In this round table, he listed the challenges surrounding climate change and assured that the green transition is possible, pointing out that Europe is fulfilling its promises and recalling that the green transition was a cornerstone of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
ASEAN is the main regional organisation in Southeast Asia, created in 1967, with its headquarters in Jakarta, and comprising 10 States. Laos currently holds the annual chairmanship, and it will be followed by Malaysia for the whole of 2025.
It is currently chaired annually by Laos, followed by Malaysia for the whole of 2025. The EU has been a strategic partner of ASEAN since 2020.
In his speech at the EU-ASEAN ministerial meeting, Minister Albares highlighted the significance of cooperation between the organisations, "even more so in the current geopolitical context", and expressed his confidence in working together to achieve tangible results in the areas of connectivity, green transition, security and trade. In this sense, he assured that the Joint Declaration was a reflection of the general concern about climate change, trade and connectivity.
Finally, the minister attended the informal meeting of EU Foreign Affairs Ministers in the "Gymnich" format, which was held in two sessions that addressed relations between the European Union and Africa and relations between the EU and Turkey.
During his stay in Brussels, José Manuel Albares met with the Commissioners for Enlargement and Neighbourhood, Oliver Varhely, and for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, and with Vice-President Maros Sefcovic, in charge of Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight. He also held bilateral meetings with, among others, his counterparts from Malaysia, Viet Nam, Pakistan and Singapore.