§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what response he has made to the decision by the EU to cancel forthcoming Asia and Europe Meeting (ASEM) meetings due to the proposed participation of the Burmese regime. [185550]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienMy right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary agreed with EU colleagues that the two ASEM meetings which were due to be held in July and in September would have to be postponed, as the EU could not participate without the 10 new EU member states, who are not yet members of ASEM.
The 10 new EU member states have applied to join ASEM at the Hanoi Summit in October, along with Cambodia, Laos and Burma. The Foreign Secretary and EU colleagues recently endorsed the appointment of Mr. Hans van den Broek as Special Envoy of the Presidency, to consult ASEM partners on an acceptable and feasible solution to handling Burma in the context of ASEM enlargement.