(Recast) Asia-Europe summit to boost security, economic cooperation: Malaysian expert

The upcoming Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit is expected to boost cooperation in security and economic cooperation between Asian and European countries, a Malaysian expert said on Wednesday.

One significant area for Asia-Europe cooperation would be in the security field, as both Asian and European countries are facing increasing threat from terrorism, said Oh Ei Sun, senior fellow at S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies of Singapore's Nanyang Technological University.

"We have seen terrorist activity in both European countries as well as a number of Asian countries, it appeared that nobody is immune as a victim," he told Xinhua.

"So if we could enhance information exchange and intelligence exchange between the law enforcement authorities between Asian as well as European countries, hopefully we could lower the risk of terrorism."

Another key area for cooperation is the economy. "The spiraling down of the world economy would necessitate closer cooperation between the Asian and European countries," said Oh, pointing out that Asia had seen tremendous growth in recent years while Europe still possesses the technology advantage.

After Britain's decided to leave the European Union, Europe would face challenge to pump up its economy, where Asian countries like China could be its assistance, he said.

The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) is an informal process of dialogue and cooperation bringing together the 28 European Union member states, two other European countries, and the European Union with 21 Asian countries and the ASEAN Secretariat. The ASEM dialogue addresses political, economic and cultural issues, with the objective of strengthening the relationship between the two regions, in a spirit of mutual respect and equal partnership.

Mongolia will host the 11th ASEM Summit of Heads of State and Government in its capital of Ulan Bator on July 15-16.

Oh said it was particularly important that the summit being held in Ulan Bator, which is part of central Asia with enormous growth potentials among central Asian countries.

The Belt and Road Initiative promoted by China, particularly the Silk Road Economic Belt, could unleash the growth potential of the Central Asian countries, he said.

As for Southeast Asia, the countries in the region would benefit from more trade between Asia and Europe, primarily between China and leading European countries, which inevitably would go through the Malacca Strait and Southeast Asian countries.

"We could be the part of global production chain, which is very important for us, in terms of accelerating world economy growth," Oh said. "We will also see closer cooperation in combating terrorism." Endit