Jakarta (VNA) - The 30th ASEAN-EU Joint Cooperation Committee(J🔥CC) Meeting has been convened in Jakarta, with both  sides reaffirming their commitment tostrengthening ASEAN-EU cooperation and to uphold ASEAN centrality based onshared relevant fundamental principles of their respective Indo-Pacificapproaches.

They agreed to explore the potential collaborationin the four priority areas of the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) andthe seven ones of the EU Strategy for Cooperation in theIndo-Pacific, all in accordance with the principles of the Treaty of Amity andCooperation in Southeast Asia, the ASEAN Charter, and the AOIP. They both acknowledged the launch of the TeamEurope Initiative on Sustainable Connectivity and the operationalisation of theGreen Team Europe Initiative of the EU, which aim to enhance ASEAN-EUcooperation and be complemented by concrete projects at both regional andnational levels across Southeast Asia, and welcomed the EU's expectedcontribution of around10 billion EUR (10.54 billion USD) for the implementation of Global Gatewayin the ASEAN region. The two sides reaffirmed the importance of andtheir commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the UnitedNations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Paris Agreement,and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and related Kunming-MontrealGlobal Biodiversity Framework, with a view to promoting sustainable developmentand addressing the global challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss andenvironmental protection. In the spirit of mutual cooperation, they bothwelcomed the convening of the 2nd Joint Working Group (JWG) on Palm Oil betweenrelevant ASEAN member states and the EU as per the agreed Terms of Referenceand the relevant parties’ continued constructive discussion pertaining tosustainable vegetable oil production in the said JWG.

Besides, ASEAN and the EU welcomed the continuedwide-ranging, substantive policy dialogues between ASEAN and EU counterpartssupported by the Enhanced Regional EU-ASEAN Dialogue Instrument (E-READI),which promotes dialogue and cooperation on a wide range of policy areas ofshared interest.

Th🍨ey both reaffirmed their commitment to intensifyengagement on ASEAN-EU trade and economic issues and to explore other avenuesin the short and medium terms to promote cooperation in areas of mutualinterest such as digital🐼 economy, green technologies and green services andsupply chain resilience, while reaffirming a future ASEAN-EU FTA as a commonlong-term objective.

The meetingwelcomed joint efforts to promote ASEAN-EU connectivity, including through theGlobal Gateway Team Europe Initiative on Sustainable Connectivity for ASEAN andagreed to enhance digital cooperation as reflected in theASEANEU Joint Ministerial Statement on Connectivity and in line with the statedvision of the ASEAN Digital Masterplan 2025. ASEAN and the EU welcomed the growing engagementbetween the two sides on a broad range of security and defence-relatedissues, including the EU’s active engagement as co-chair of the thematic workstream on counter-terrorism and transnational crime (CTTC) for the 2020-2022 period, extended until 2023, within the ASEAN Regional Forum./.