Source: Antara (Indonesia)
Source type: Newspaper
Published on: 28 May 2010
Yogyakarta (ANTARA News) - The second Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) development conference ended here on Thursday with a Yogyakarta declaration.
"After meeting for two days we finally made a statement put in the Yogyakarta Declaration," the director of cooperation with and Europe of the Indonesian ministry of foreign affairs, Dian Wirengjurit, said.
He hoped the results of the conference could become the attention of member countries for reference to the ASEM Summit in Brussels scheduled in October.
He said the declaration raised four main issues including the one relating to the future of cooperation between Asia and Europe for sustainable development.
He said the delegations from Asia and Europe reaffirmed their commitment that aids and grants should be given based upon mutually beneficial partnership.
Dian said the delegations had also restated their commitment to achieving the target of millennium development goals (MDGS) according to their policies and strategies.
They also agreed to carry out development based upon comprehensive principles of equality and mutually beneficial cooperation and to improve methods for their implementation.
The second issue raises is connected with climate change and low carbon emissions development efforts.
Dian said regarding the climate change agenda Indonesia had expressed wish for the implementation of the Bali Roadmap produced in the climate change summit in Bali in 2007.
"We wish the Bali Roadmap could be adapted," he said.
The third issue in the declaration is related with social cohesion in promoting sustainable development efforts while the fourth is about harmonizing policies with sustainable development efforts.
Dian said with harmonization it did not mean that the policies must be made the same as those for Europe as Asian countries also have exclusivity.
He said the results of the conference are not binding but are expected to be able to be used as a reference for the summit in Brussels in October later. "They are not legally binding," he said.
Antara News
http://www.antara.co.id/en/news/1274985258/asia-europe-meeting-produces-yogyakarta-declaration
