The European Union expects to reach consensuses with Asia to cooperate in combating climate change and maintaining energy security, an EU expert on Asian affairs said.
"Europe wants to send a clear message at the EU-Asia summit" to build with Asian countries "consensuses to work together on climate change and energy security," which is the most important thing for Europe, Etienne Reuter, a senior advisor to the European Commission told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.
Reuter was former EU representative in Hong Kong from 1993 to 2000 and then spent five years at the EU delegation in Tokyo.
Europe and Asia should "work together to enhance regional and international stability and strengthen international order," he added.
"Trade and investment links between Asia and Europe are strong, but political and people-to-people links were not as strong as they should have been," he said.
The EU-Asia summit "will be a forum to enhance political dialogue and serves as a platform to develop people-to-people contact, exchanges between universities, academics, and civil societies," he said.
Political dialogue could also help Europe to further enhance trade and economic ties with Asian countries, contain regional conflict and contribute to international stability, he added.
"The summit is to build a bridge between Asian and Europe. Out of the summit, we hope a consensus would do something together to build stability in the world" and to reach successful agreements on the post-Kyoto Protocol.
As the summit is to be held amid global financial meltdown, climate change and international terrorism, consultation on such matters will be the main theme of the summit, he said.
Source: Xinhua
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