Asia-Middle East Dialogue kicked off in Egypt

Foreign Ministry's Deputy Permanent Secretary Chariyavat Santaputra leads Thai delegation in the AMED meeting in Egypt

The AMED is a platform, a vehicle to bring the Asia and the Middle East to become a new partnership to overcome trans-boundary challenges such as energy security, climate change and religious conflict, said Singapore's Foreign Minister George Yeo.

Singapore together with Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain initiated the AMED since 2004 to make the meeting of the two regions become true first ever in Singapore in 2005.

The two regions have been linked since the ancient time through the overland and maritime silk routes, Yeo said. "With the centre of gravity of the world economy returning to Asia in this century, the connections of between the Middle East and Asia will multiply in the coming years," he said.

With three pillars of cooperation; political-security, economic and social-culture, the AMED has made some progressed over the past two years.

Thailand and Egypt are working on the standardization of halal food certification across Asia and the Middle East. A working group co-chaired by Jordan and Singapore established two regional training centers in Amman and Doha focusing on vocational and public administration training respectively.

Singapore will organize three new training courses on aviation security, port management and intellectual property protection, Yeo said.

However, conflict is a major serious concern for countries in the Middle East. Unlike Asia, the Middle East is suffering from an unenviable situation in Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon and Sudan, said Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Ghiet.

The tension slows down the march of development, peace and reform throughout the region, he said.

China's Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi as the representative of Asia spoke at the opening of the AMED that peace and stability are the pre-conditions of the development as a lot of tension occurred in the two regions. Wang urged the regions to seek peaceful solutions to end disputes and resolve differences through dialogue and negotiation.

by Supalak Ganjanakhundee

The Nation