Recent Highlights

Virtual Launch of the EU-ASEAN Blue Book 2021 - Strategic Partners

07 May 2021

Permanent Representative Kok Li Peng attended the virtual launch of “EU-ASEAN Blue Book 2021: Strategic Partners” on Friday, 7 May 2021.  The Blue Book is the annual flagship publication of the EU which documents the wide array of ASEAN-EU cooperation projects.  ASEAN Secretary-General Dato Lim Jock Hoi, EU Ambassador to ASEAN Igor Driesmans and Permanent Representative Kok Li Peng delivered opening remarks at the launch. 

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Transcript of Permanent Representative Kok’s Opening Remarks at the “Virtual Launch of the EU-ASEAN Blue Book 2021: Strategic Partners”, Friday 7 May 2021

• Good afternoon Your Excellency Dato Lim Jock Hoi, Secretary-General of ASEAN, and Your Excellency Igor Driesmans, Ambassador of the EU to ASEAN.  Good afternoon and good morning to Excellencies, ladies, and gentlemen tuning in from Southeast Asia, Brussels, Jakarta or elsewhere around the world.

• I am very glad to be here with you for this virtual launch of the Blue Book 2021.

• Allow me at the outset to congratulate the EU on the upcoming Europe Day on 9 May 2021.

• The Blue Book has served as a useful repository of the wide array of ASEAN-EU cooperation projects over the years. 

• Its name is also particularly fitting as blue is a common colour of both the EU and the ASEAN flags.  For ASEAN, the blue represents peace and stability, which is a shared priority of both our regions. 

• ASEAN and the EU are also united by a common goal in supporting an open, inclusive and rules-based multilateral system. Vaccine multilateralism, as Igor touched upon, is a new facet of this goal.  The importance of fair and equitable access to vaccines is crucial in turning around our economies and protecting the most vulnerable in our societies.

• In this regard, I am very glad to see that this edition of the Blue Book includes a new section on Team Europe’s contribution to COVID-19 vaccines for ASEAN through the COVAX Facility.  ASEAN highly appreciates that Europe contributes about half of the current financing to the COVAX facility. 

• Blue is also significant because it is the colour of the oceans and skies which connect us – well it is the refraction of the light passing through it but blue is what we see.  Air and maritime connectivity links our regions and these links have facilitated trade and investment, the movement of people, and the sharing of ideas. 

• We should not let up on our efforts to strengthen connectivity between ASEAN and the EU.  I am heartened that we launched the ASEAN Customs Transit System (ACTS) on 2 November last year with the support of the EU ARISE Plus programme.  The ACTS will improve regulatory alignment, simplify customs procedures and ease movement of goods by road – something which we cannot take for granted in these pandemic-disrupted times.

• I would also like to take this opportunity to encourage both sides to conclude the negotiations of the ASEAN-EU Comprehensive Air Transport Agreement (CATA) as Dato Lim Jock Hoi mentioned in his remarks. We have a very narrow window left to deliver on this landmark agreement but with sufficient political will on both sides, I believe that we can push this over the finishing line.

• The pandemic has also offered us an opportunity to strengthen digital connectivity between Europe and Southeast Asia.  For instance, digital platforms allowed us to undertake policy exchange dialogues such as the first ASEAN-EU Experts Dialogue on COVID-19 vaccines in December last year. 

• Our scientists were also able to exchange experiences on using High Performance Computing modelling and diagnostics for COVID-19 related projects- this has been supported by the E-READI facility.

• In closing, I would like to convey my warm congratulations to the EU on the launch of Blue Book 2021. There is a small but significant change in this year’s title of the Blue Book, namely from ‘Natural Partners’ to ‘Strategic Partners’.  I look forward to future editions of the Blue Book which will continue to chart the story of the strategic partnership between ASEAN and the EU.

• I would also like to wish an advance Hari Raya Puasa to all friends and colleagues who will celebrate the occasion next week.

• Thank you.

Photo credit: ASEAN Secretariat