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German Ambassador on the Occasion of the Day of German Unity 2016 Reception
October 4th, 2016 | 11:32 AM | 2783 views
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
Yang Berhomat
Dato Seri etia Dr. Haji Zulkarnain bin Haji Hanafi
Minister of Health
and
Yang Mulia Datin Hjh Sarimah bte Haji Umar
Pengiran Pengiran,
Pehin Pehin,
Dato Dato, Datin Datin,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am happy and delighted to see so many of you tonight joining me in our reception to celebrate the 26th Day of German Unity. Special thanks to Dato Dr. Hasp Zulkarnain and Datin for being our guest of honour.
Tonight's venue is of particular significance as it was exactly here, the former Sheraton Hotel, that we had had our temporary offices in 1985, 31 years ago.
The Federal Republic of Germany, the then "West- Germany", was among the first countries to recognize Brunei after gaining independence in January 1984. It was however only in July 1985 that we set up our Embassy in Bandar Seri Begawan
Looking back to the 1980s, those were the years when Germany became aware of the importance of the emerging ASEAN markets in Southeast Asia. After experiencing multiple oil and commodity price shocks in the 1970s, Germany attempted to formulate its own "Policy on Asia". In the 1980s establishing an Embassy here in your capital was part of an exercise which we found quite challenging at the time. While bilateral diplomatic work like ours was carried out actively in Southeast Asia countries, the European Communities, of the 80s, on the other hand were less visible.
Throughout the 80s we experienced the first substantial enlargement of the then European Community from a "Club of Nine" to a community of twelve. Greece joined in 1982, and Spain and Portugal both in 1984. A huge amount of political activity had to be committed to that. And there was only little time left for a European policy on Southeast Asia.
More than 30 years later and after several enlargement rounds the 28 member European Union of today has become an economic powerhouse which gives, as the single most important major global donor, more than half of all official development assistance ODA worldwide. in concrete numbers: almost 80 Billion USD per year. In addition to that the EU is currently the
In my four years as Germany's ambassador to Brunei Darussalam I have travelled substantially in the ASEAN area. What impressed and struck me again was the diversity of the region and its members geographically, culturally and also ethnically. Diversity is, above all else, is a founding principle of ASEAN; its challenge is to find the common ground. And it is in this particular regard that ASEAN and the European Union share most similarities.
As the two major regional integration initiatives in the world, ASEAN and the EU are indeed natural partners and it is no wonder our cooperation continues to flourish.
The EU and ASEAN share the same goals for their citizen peace, stability and prosperity. Both are committed to address issues by a multilateral approach. The EU and ASEAN share, as it were, the same DNA.
In the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) together with other "dialogue partners", ASEAN and the EU address regional and international security issues of common interest and concern. The objective of the ARF is to foster constructive dialogue and consultation through confidence building and preventive diplomacy.
Our histories have intertwined our regions for centuries ,and our citizens flow in huge numbers between our regions for business, cultural, academic and touristic purposes.
Today, the EU and ASEAN can look back over 39 years of friendship and cooperation, having established cooperation in many areas, expanded financial assistance and enhanced dialogue with numerous technical level meetings and biannual Ministerial meetings. In 2017 both regions will celebrate together the 40th anniversary of our close relations.
Allow me to take you back for a moment to some other aspects of the current state of affairs. Besides providing annual development assistance to 7 of the ten ASEAN member state amounting to 350 Mio Euros annually, the EU has declared its readiness to contribute more than 22 Mio Euro annually in the period 2014 to 2020 to ASEAN's Secretariat in Jakarta to implement to a wide array of capacity building measures and regional integration programmes.
The EU has, over many years, and prior to 2015, provided substantial inputs for the conceptualization of the ASEAN communities. The formation of the AEC 2015 as a single market and production base was a bold and ambitious goal to which the EU has contributed. Even if this has not been completely achieved today, ASEAN is going in the right direction.
The recent apparent proliferation of non-tariff barriers to trade within ASEAN certainly was a step back from the intended complete abolishment of intra-ASEAN tariffs. Impressive economic figures and achievements, however, speak for themselves: ASEAN's GDP is at two-thirds of Germany's GDP, and bigger than India's and foreign direct investments into ASEAN is approaching China's.
In a worldwide context, ASEAN is among the economic stars. It has been remarkably stable amidst a global slowdown, and even its commodity exporters have, in the face of falling prices, held up much better than their emerging-market peers in other parts of the world.
At the same time, its huge domestic market of 640 million people and a growing middle class represent obvious potential for German and European companies. However, recent investment figures show that our companies have not yet fully realized this potential. Especially the small and medium-sized enterprises in Germany and EU countries are somewhat lagging behind.
On the other hand, ASEAN has established itself as a major consumer market in its own right, with much potential for growth ahead.
Summing it all up, and in conclusion, I should think that the European Union and ASEAN will be in the moving rapidly beyond economic and development cooperation and establish a partnership of genuine political cooperation.
Today, while the EU may not be as visible in Southeast Asia's security policy as it would like, Brussels already sponsors a wide range of activities in this area. The 2012 Bandar Seri Begawan ASEAN-EU plan of Action lists 22 points in political and security cooperation alone.
I can assure you that the strategic significance of Asia has become a central element in European thinking relative to defense and security, in recent years, the European Union has significantly upgraded the quality and breadth of its relations with the region, incorporating issues of defense and security.
Allow me a few, very last remarks now on German activities in Brunei Darussalam. As I mentioned last year, in July at our 30th anniversary celebration, my compatriots can be found mostly in areas where there are strong traditions in our country: in teaching establishments and university, in health care, in the automobile sector, and in aviation. A few of us are in entrepreneurial positions, or own businesses, work in consultancies and advisory bodies, either in the private or the public sector. I would like to thank each and everyone of them for the valuable contribution they make to Germany's bilateral relations with Brunei Darussalam.
For 31 years the embassy has been accompanying and supporting their activities. We are very happy with the results achieved.
We commend our fellow countrymen for that. Last year's anniversary was a good opportunity to look ahead and realize that Brunei Darussalam is intensifying its own economic development.
Meanwhile Brunei Darussalam is fast moving forward. Within ASEAN, especially the ambitious design of an internal market, and the Social, Cultural and Economic Community as well as the East Asia Growth Area BIMP-EAGA, are major initiatives where we will see more German and EU involvement in the future.
Thank you very much.
Source:
@BRUDIRECT.COM
by BruDirect.com
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