Page 28 - ASEAN-EU Dialogue 2018: Regional and Inter-Regional Economic Cooperation: Identifying Priorities for ASEAN and the EU

Vietnam over the next century, and climate integrated across most of the EU’s policies and
budget, working together would be the easy thing to do, 5) UN 2030 Sustainable Development
Goals. Both the EU and ASEAN have expressed their commitments to achieving these goals,
which, with its focus centred on people-to-people approaches, are vital to the two blocs
continued regional integration, 6) Research, science and technology, 7) Fisheries, 8) Human
rights, 9) Sectoral policy dialogue, 10) Development. The EU doubled its funding for ASEAN
integration in the 2014-2020 budget to more than 170 million Euro, funding trade and transport
integration across the region, the harmonization of standards, higher education and disaster
management. It also pledged an additional 3 billion Euro to reduce poverty in low-income
ASEAN countries.

However, in developing this Dialogue, three new EU cooperation programs were launched.
Two EU-ASEAN programs: the Enhanced Regional EU-ASEAN Dialogue instrument worth
20 million Euros to further strengthen EU-ASEAN policy dialogues. The flagship program on
economic and trade connectivity in support of ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint 2020
is worth 40 million Euros. The third is the EU program on promoting women migrant workers’
rights and opportunities in ASEAN, worth 25 million Euros, helping to ensure labour migration
is safe and fair for all women in the ASEAN region. Tackling inequality is mainly a national
prerogative in the EU. Depending on the preferences within societies and in line with the
principle of subsidiarity, Member States decide on how to address inequality. At the same time,
social issues are a priority for the EU. In today’s political climate, this is the best antidote that
can be offered to the temptations of protectionism and isolationism - by showing that global,
shared prosperity is indeed a win-win situation for all.

After having set out how the EU will help to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals across
the EU internal and external policies, the EU has put its words into action through a Nature
Action Plan to protect biodiversity, an ambitious energy policy. Up to the beginning of 2018
the ongoing programs and projects of the EU-ASEAN Cooperation programs have been
summarized below- in accordance with the report “ASEAN and the EU” by the European
Union Delegation in Jakarta in July 2016 (European Union, 2016).

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