Page 62 - EU_ASEN Relations: Perspectives From Malaysia

security policy refers to ASEAN only peripherally. The same applies to

ASEAN.
The future cooperation between 2018 and 2022 is outlined in the ASEAN-EU

Plan of Action, which was signed by representatives of both regional
organisations in August 2017. Both organisations agreed on fighting

terrorism, transnational crime and illicit drugs in joint operations. This plan of

action also contains a chapter on the promotion of human rights and good
governance. In terms of higher education, ASEAN as well as the EU could

make significant progress in internationalising and harmonising higher

education in both regions. Several ASEAN-EU cooperation programmes such
as the EU-SHARE, Erasmus+, Horizon 2020, Newton Fund, and the ASEAN-

QA, are currently underway.
The relationship between the European Union and Malaysia, as an important

ASEAN member state, has developed very well. In economic terms, however,
there is a recent dispute on the import of palm oil, an economically and

politically important Malaysian export good, into the EU. Negotiations of the

Malaysian government with EU representatives on this issue are still ongoing.
In terms of political cooperation, the EU-Malaysia Partnership and

Cooperation Agreement (PAC), signed in April 2016, provides the framework
for the current EU-Malaysia bilateral cooperation. The ASEAN-EU Plan of

Action forms the basis for the socio-cultural cooperation between the EU and
Malaysia. In this document, a comprehensive environmental cooperation in

areas such as green technology, renewable energy, and sustainable forest

management has been agreed upon. Annual policy dialogues on these issues,
as well as on climate change, will be conducted between the relevant

ministries. With the launch of the KL Declaration on Higher Education in 2015

that was adopted by all ASEAN member states, Malaysia took the lead for

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