Developing the Asia-Europe Parliamentary Partnership
18. ASEP warmly welcome parliamentarians from new ASEM members to the Asia-Europe Parliamentary Partnership. New members add to the already substantial weight and importance of ASEM on the global stage, in terms of economic and political weight, trade and population. ASEP Parliamentarians believe that interparliamentary dialogue between Asia and Europe can provide new avenues for dialogue in inter alia development, security issues, human rights, trade issues and energy policies.
19. With the aim of substantiating the Asia-Europe Partnership, ASEP Parliamentarians adopted Rules of Procedure for Asia-Europe Parliamentary Meetings. ASEP Parliamentarians are grateful to the National Assembly of Vietnam for presiding over the preparatory work of drafting these rules of procedure. ASEP Parliamentarians believe that these rules of procedure provide a clear basis for organising ASEP work.
20. ASEP Parliamentarians emphasize that the Asia-Europe Parliamentary Partnership should retain its informal nature, in order to facilitate a direct and flexible dialogue between ASEP parliamentarians. With this end in mind, ASEP Parliamentarians find it important that the ASEP work between ASEP meetings also in the future is presided over and organised by the host parliament of the upcoming ASEP meeting, with the kind support of ASEP member parliaments.
21. ASEP Parliamentarians emphasize the link between parliaments of Asia and Europe and ASEM. ASEP needs to make an active parliamentary contribution to the ASEM process and in particular to Summit Meetings. With this aim in mind, ASEP Parliamentarians endorse the principle that ASEP Meetings should be held bi-annually before ASEM Summit Meetings. The parliament of the ASEM member state hosting the ASEM Summit shall have a priority to host the ASEP meeting the same year, in order to provide for a direct link between ASEP and ASEM Summit preparations.
22. ASEP Parliamentarians deem it important that in the future the ASEP President always communicates the ASEP Declaration to the ASEM Summit. ASEP Parliamentarians encouraged the host of the ASEM VI Summit, the Prime Minister of Finland, to invite the President of ASEP IV to address the ASEM VI Summit in Helsinki.
23. The ASEP IV delegates expressed their gratitude to the Parliament of Finland for organising the ASEP IV meeting and to Speaker Paavo Lipponen for presiding over the meeting.
24. The ASEP parliamentarians noted with appreciation the intention of the National People's Congress of China to host ASEP V and look forward to meeting in China in the first half of 2008.
25. The ASEP parliamentarians took note that the functions of the President of the Asia-Europe Parliamentary Partnership will be transferred from the Speaker of the Finnish Parliament to the President of the National People's Congress of China with the closing of the ASEM VI meeting in September 2006, as provided in the rules of procedure of Asia-Europe Parliamentary Partnership Meetings.
Helsinki, 5 May 2006