Jakarta (VNA) – Senior officials from ASEAN and the European Union(EU) recently gathered virtually for the second EU-ASEAN High-Level Dialogue onEnvironment and Climate Change.

During the dialogue, the EU and ASEAN discussed their cooperation on sharedregional and global challenges related to the protection of the environment andthe fight against climate change, as agreed in the Joint Statement of the 22ndASEAN-EU Ministerial Meeting.

Following the first meeting in July 2019, the second dialogue provided an opportunityfor further exchange of experiences on environmental and climate goals, andpromoting regional solutions for a green transition.

Astrid Schomaker, Director forGlobal Sustainable Development at the European Commission’s Directorate Generalfor Environment, Jacob Werksman, Principal Adviser, Directorate General forClimate Action, and Hazri Hassan, Director for International Policy at the Ministryof Sustainability and the Environment who represented Singapore as the ASEAN-EUCountry Coordinator, chaired the meeting.

The European Green Deal, the outcomes of the 31st Meeting of ASEAN SeniorOfficials on the Environment, and putting sustainability at the heart of therecovery framework, guided the discussion.

Important areas of ongoing andpotential cooperation between the two regional entities that have beendiscussed are plastics and marine litter, circular economy, biodiversity, andnatural capital.

The EU informed of its intention towork towards a global agreement on plastics, which deems to be important forboth the EU and ASEAN and highlighted the continued implementation of aplastics and marine litter project in five ASEAN countries.

The Dialogue also broached the subjectof chemicals and waste and stressing the importance of promoting safety andsustainability with reference to the relevant agreement, in which both ASEANand EU are the parties to address waste trafficking and illegal waste dumping.

This was followed by the welcomeannouncement that the preparation of an ASEAN Platform on Circular Economy isunderway. The EU is supporting its establishment, as part of a joint initiativebetween the EU and ASEAN on circular economy.

The Platform will facilitate thesharing of good circular practices across ASEAN, engage key stakeholders, andhelp design policies that can accelerate a circular economy transition in ASEANMember States.

The two sides directed theirattention to biodiversity and natural capital, and emphasised the importance ofnext year’s Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversityin Kunming and highlighted the urgent need to work together towards a realisticand ambitious post-2020 global biodiversity framework.

In the second part of thediscussion, EU and ASEAN officials exchanged views on climate change, includingin the areas of Nationally Determined Contributions, concrete mitigationactions, long-term strategies, climate neutrality as well as latest trends insustainable finance.

Both sides agreed to continue theircooperation on these topics as a follow up to the High-level Dialoguediscussions.

The High-Level Dialogue was supported by the Enhanced Regional EU-ASEANDialogue Instrument (E-READI), a development cooperation programme thatfacilitates dialogues between the EU and ASEAN in priority policy areas ofjoint interest. Drawing on the EU’s experience of regional integration, theE-READI policy dialogue facility further strengthens both the ASEAN regionalintegration process as well as the overall ASEAN-EU partnership./.