EU hopes to close Myanmar-blotted chapter in ASEAN story ( AFP ) January 26, 2003

EU hopes to close Myanmar-blotted chapter in ASEAN story

BRUSSELS, Jan 26 (AFP)

The European Union aims to forge new ground in its lucrative relations with Southeast Asia this week by seeking to put acrimony over military-run Myanmar in the shade.

The EU is temporarily lifting a visa ban against junta leaders to allow Myanmar's deputy foreign minister, Khin Maung Win, to attend a Brussels gathering of EU and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers.

Hailing his attendance as a "big breakthrough", ASEAN is hoping that the meeting on Monday and Tuesday will turn a page on the bitter recriminations that have dogged past talks with the EU because of the Myanmar issue.

The EU had previously refused to hold high-level talks in Europe with ASEAN following military-run Myanmar's admittance to the Southeast Asian club in 1997.The 15-nation EU, while unhappy about the military's refusal to relinquish power in the former British colony, shares the desire to look ahead and reinforce trade relations as well as a joint battle against terrorism.The 10-member ASEAN, for its part, is keen to see European investment return to its shores after being diverted to China in recent years.

"We remain as concerned as ever about the situation in Burma. There is no improvement," said an EU official."Our concerns about human rights and the need for a rapid return to democracy mean that many years ago, we imposed sanctions on Burma and we see no justification for reversing that," she said on condition of anonymity. But the EU does not want Myanmar to distract from more pressing concerns, the official added, "because we are keen to reinvigorate that relationship".

The European Commission -- the EU's executive arm -- is formulating a new strategy towards Southeast Asia due for release in the spring, to update a relationship that is based on a bilateral accord signed in 1980.Since then, both the EU and ASEAN have been transformed through the addition of new members and the development of a broader remit beyond their traditional economic concerns.

"There are a lot of things we could be doing together. We are not fully exploiting the potential of the relationship," the official said.

In 2001, the EU was ASEAN's second-largest export market and third-largest trading partner after the United States and Japan.ASEAN exports to the EU were estimated at 65.7 billion euros (70 billion dollars), while the region's imports from the EU were valued at 42.2 billion euros, according to European Commission figures.Those figures would have been higher but for a shift in European companies' interest to other parts of Asia, principally to China, according to ASEAN Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong.

"I think a dialogue between the ministers of the EU and ASEAN will foster a more positive climate to encourage more people to look at ASEAN," he said.The "more positive climate" should extend to Myanmar, Ong said.

"Many of these impressions of something happening in Myanmar are based on certain information, so now you have the Myanmar minister there and European ministers there, let's have an adult exchange of views," he said.

Both sides will find themselves on safer ground in pledging anew to combat terrorism in the wake of the devastating bombing of a nightclub on the Indonesian island of Bali and a spate of attacks in the Philippines.

The EU and ASEAN are set Tuesday to issue a joint declaration pledging to crack down on sources of funding for terror such as drugs trafficking, money laundering and weapons smuggling.They will also "reject the association between terrorism and any religion, race or nationality", according to a draft document seen by AFP.