Asien og Stillehavsområdet

This page is also available in:

I Asien har EØSU forbindelser med en række civilsamfundsorganisationer i Kina, Japan, Singapore, Sydkorea og Vietnam.

Der blev i 2007 efter det 9. topmøde mellem EU og Kina oprettet en rundbordsdialog med Kina, hvor civilsamfundet mødes en gang om året.

I februar 2009 blev der oprettet et opfølgningsudvalg med Japan for at overvåge civilsamfundsdimensionen af forbindelserne mellem EU og Japan og fremme samarbejdet mellem EØSU og erhvervs-, arbejdstager-, miljø- og forbrugerorganisationer samt andre store civilsamfundsorganisationer i Japan. Der er etableret en intern rådgivende gruppe EU/Japan under den økonomiske partnerskabsaftale mellem EU og Japan, som giver civilsamfundet en overvågende og rådgivende rolle under kapitlet om handel og bæredygtig udvikling.

EU har indgået frihandelsaftaler med følgende asiatiske lande: Sydkorea (2011), Japan (2019), Singapore (2019) og Vietnam (2020). Disse aftaler er kendetegnet ved, at der nu indgår et kapitel om handel og bæredygtig udvikling, og EØSU og andre civilsamfundsorganisationer er nu formelt – sammen med civilsamfundsorganisationerne i partnerlandene – med til at overvåge gennemførelsen af aftalerne og rådgive de relevante politiske myndigheder om miljømæssige, sociale og arbejdsmarkedsmæssige standarder og andre områder med umiddelbar relevans for civilsamfundet gennem de interne rådgivende grupper. Der afholdes to til tre møder i EU's interne rådgivende grupper om året, og én gang om året afholdes der et fælles møde.

EØSU arbejder desuden med civilsamfundet i andre asiatiske lande og deltager i relevante internationale begivenheder på 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

  • -
    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).