ASEM Concentrates on Fewer IssuesMalaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Saturday the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) should have a limit to the issues to be discussed in the future.He said there was a feeling that time was not adequate for the leaders to speak on the various issues put forward at the 3rd ASEM in Seoul which ends Saturday. "There were suggestions that there should be a more limited number of subjects so that members will have more time to focus on a subject," he told Malaysian journalists before heading home on the final day of the two-day ASEM Saturday, the Malaysian national news agency Bernama reported. Expressing satisfaction over the 3rd ASEM, Mahathir was quoted as saying "It is a good meeting." He said the Seoul ASEM discussed the World Trade Organization's (WTO new round of multilateral talks and globalization. He himself at the meeting spoke on the international financial architecture, globalization and about the need to put substance into the relationship between Asia and Europe, suggesting there should be more trade and investment delegations and an exchange of education programs between the two regions. The exchange of students between Asia and Europe, especially European students to Asian countries, would provide them the opportunity to mix and interact with the Asian community and to understand their culture, he said. On the future of ASEM, Mahathir said that ASEM should upgrade its activities. The Seoul ASEM was attended by the 26 ASEM partners, 10 from East Asia and 15 from Europe as well as the European Commission (EC). The Asian partners were seven "old" ASEAN members namely Brunei, Indonesia Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as China, Japan and South Korea. The European partners were Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Britain and the EC. |
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