Asia and Pacific

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In Asia, the EESC maintains relations with civil society organisations in China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Vietnam.

A Civil Society Round Table with China is in place: it was set up in 2007 following the 9th EU-China Summit and convenes once a year.

A Follow-up Committeewith Japan was established in February 2009 to monitor the civil society dimension of EU-Japan relations and promote cooperation between the EESC and business, workers', environmental and consumer organisations and other major civil society organisations in Japan. An EU-Japan Domestic Advisory Group was established under the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement, which assigns a monitoring and advisory role to civil society under its trade and sustainable development chapter.

The EU has concluded free trade agreements with the following Asian countries: South Korea (2011), Japan (2019), Singapore (2019) and Vietnam (2020). These agreements are characterised by the inclusion of trade and sustainable development chapters, and give the EESC and other civil society organisations – together with civil society organisations in the partner countries – a formal role in monitoring their implementation and advising the relevant political authorities in the areas of environmental, social and labour standards and other matters which are of direct relevance to civil society, through the Domestic Advisory Groups (DAGs). Two to three meetings of the EU DAGs are held in each year, and a joint meeting takes place once a year.

In addition, the EESC engages with civil society in other Asian countries and in relevant international events on an ad hoc basis.

  • Jonathan Peel during the plenary session

    The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has adopted at its March plenary session an opinion on the Joint Communication "Connecting Europe and Asia – Building blocks for an EU Strategy", issued by the European Commission and the EU High Representative in September 2018. The EESC considers it to be a seriously missed opportunity, with many significant strategic gaps, little ambition and no real depth of vision offered as to the development of EU's relationship and connectivity with Asia.  

  • Meeting of the EU-Japan and South East Asia Follow-up Committee

    The EESC EU-Japan & South-East Asia Follow-up Committee meets on 12 September 2023 to discuss various aspects of EU-Japan & South-East Asia relations. Main topics on the programme:

    • The EU and South=East Asia
    • Global overview and civil society in South-East Asia
  • The EU and the Japan Domestic Advisory Groups (DAGs), established under the Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) chapter of the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), attended the 3rd EU-Japan Joint Dialogue with Civil Society, which took place in virtual format on 27 January 2022.

  • A DAG-to-DAG is a joint civil society body between the partner countries of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), bringing together the separate DAGs of each party. This is the 2nd joint meeting of the EU and Singapore DAGs under the EU-Singapore FTA.

  • This meeting was an excellent opportunity for a timely update by DG Trade on the implementation of the Trade and Sustainable Development Chapter under the FTA, as well as for a constructive exchange with the Director of the ILO office in Hanoi on the labour situation in Vietnam and the state of play of the roadmap.

    Additionally, Ambassador Vu Anh Quang, from the Vietnamese Mission to the EU, participated in an exchange with the EU Domestic Advisory Group (EU DAG) members to share his views on ongoing topics within the context of the EU Vietnam relations.

    The members of the EU DAG, which is composed of representatives of employers' organisations, trade unions and various interest groups, also further discussed its work programme and prepared the upcoming joint meetings with its Vietnamese civil society counterparts.

    On 28 May, nevertheless, after this EU DAG meeting and following the postponement of the joint EU-Vietnam meetings due to the fact that the Vietnam DAG had not been established yet, the members of the EU DAG issued a statement on the late cancellation of the first Trade and Sustainable Development Committee and the first Joint forum between European and Vietnamese civil society, which had been planned to take place in the first week of June 2021.

    Read the full statement here: https://europa.eu/!wm77KY

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    Joint meeting

    The EU DAG and the Korea DAG met for the first time since 2018 to hold the 7th EU-Korea Civil Society Forum (CSF).

  • This was the first meeting of the EU Domestic Advisory Group (DAG), composed of representatives of employers' organisations, trade unions and various interest groups. At the meeting, the EU DAG received information from the European External Action Service (EEAS) on the EU relations with Vietnam and exchange with representatives of the European Commission's DG TRADE and the European Parliament on the implementation of the Trade and Sustainable Development chapter of the FTA. The EU DAG had also a first discussion on its work programme.

  • Virtual meeting via WEBEX

    The EESC EU-Japan Follow-up Committee will meet in the morning of 7 January 2021. It will discuss various aspects of EU-Japan relations and set its work programme for the first half of the new mandate.

  • The EESC EU-Japan Follow-up Committee met the morning of 17 July. Items for discussion on the agenda were: the EU-Japan Relations in the post COVID-19 era and  Research and innovation. In addition to this, the Follow-up Committee assessed the current mandate period and reflected on future perspectives.

  • (Hybrid WEBEX)

    During the meeting, the members of the Domestic Advisory Group (DAG) of the EU - composed of representatives of employers' organisations, trade unions and various interest groups -  followed up on the joint meetings with the Japanese counterparts that took place in Tokyo in January this year. They also discussed the work programme of the EU DAG and topics for future cooperation and dialogue.  Additionally, the members of the EU DAG exchanged views with representatives of the European Commission on matters related to the implementation of the trade and sustainable development chapter of the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).