Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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Question 108: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs to report on the recent Asia Europe meeting, ASEM8, hosted in Brussels by the Belgian Presidency of the European Union; if he will outline the agenda and any positions and input made by Ireland to deliberations [36094/10]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Taoiseach, Brian Cowen T.D., attended the 8th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit in Brussels from 4 to 5 October. The overarching theme of the meeting was 'Quality of Life'. The ASEM Summit brought together the leaders of 46 countries, representing half of the world's GDP, two thirds of the world's population and almost two thirds of global trade. New Zealand, Australia and Russia also formally acceded to ASEM at the summit.

The Brussels meeting provided a valuable opportunity for the Taoiseach to engage informally with the leaders of all of Ireland's leading export markets in Asia, including China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Korea and India.

The Taoiseach addressed the summit session entitled "Global Issues in Focus", at which leaders discussed a number of challenges including the fight against terrorism, piracy at sea and non proliferation. In his remarks at the summit, the Taoiseach highlighted Ireland's important role in promoting disarmament and the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, referring to the high priority which Ireland attaches to its work in this area. He welcomed the successful review conference of the Non-Proliferation Treaty in May of this year. Ireland chaired the body on the sensitive issue of the 1995 resolution calling for the establishment of a zone free of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. He also referred to Ireland's key role in helping to secure a prohibition on cluster munitions that cause unacceptable harm to civilians, and commended the achievement of the entering into force of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. He also welcomed the First Meeting of States Parties which will take place in November in the Lao People's Democratic Republic, a country which has suffered greatly from the effects of cluster munitions.

There was also a discussion on human security issues, disaster prevention and relief together with reform of the UN system. Other sessions discussed global economic and financial governance, sustainable development, global and regional political issues and issues specific to ASEM.

The Summit had a strong business focus, with dialogue between the leaders on the global financial and economic crisis. The Taoiseach had a meeting on Tuesday, 5 October with leading European and Asian business people, together with a briefing on the Asia Europe Business Forum which was held in parallel in Brussels on 3 and 4 October. While in Brussels, the Taoiseach also attended an event organised by Enterprise Ireland targeting the healthcare sector in Belgium and the Netherlands. Information technology in healthcare represents one of the fastest growing export sectors within the Irish economy and a number of Irish companies have successfully launched their products and services in the Belgium and the Netherlands.

I believe that the Asia-Europe Meeting is a valuable initiative, facilitating as it does high-level discussions and co-operation between Asian and European leaders on areas of common interest. Ireland is actively involved in the ASEM process and contributes to the ongoing dialogue and programmes, including those organised by the Asia-Europe Foundation, the sole physical institution of ASEM.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate our Belgian colleagues on their successful hosting of the ASEM Summit and the wide range of parallel events. The quality of the Chair's agreed statement and summit declaration, in the drafting of which Ireland was actively involved, was very high. The tone of the political aspects of the statement was very constructive, with agreement being reached on difficult subjects such as Burma/Myanmar, North Korea, the Middle East and Afghanistan.