For the complete report in the International Herald Tribune click on this link
Europe, Asia meet at summit to hammer out trade, political differences - Europe
The EU-Asia summit focuses on improving trade ties. The EU entered the summit committed to seeking a revival of the global trade talks but signaled it will pursue bilateral free trade accords if necessary. The leaders agreed to admit India, Pakistan and Mongolia into the club. The summit opened with Vanhanen declaring that climate change and energy security were "at the heart" of the 38-nation ASEM, or Asia-Europe meeting. "Climate change can have drastic consequences both for Europe and Asia. We need to send a strong message about ... our common will to tackle this challenge," Vanhanen said.
The two regions, with a total population of 2.4 billion, are major energy consumers. With Asia's energy demand starting to soar — pushing up global oil prices — Europe is eager to promote renewable energies and energy efficient technologies to cut overall consumption and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. On Sunday, the 25 EU and 13 Asian leaders also pledged to jointly combat such global challenges as organized crime and communicable diseases like HIV/AIDS, said Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, the summit's chairman. "We agreed that the only way forward is to support the multilateral rule-based system with the United Nations at its core," he told reporters after the leaders attended a gala dinner hosted by the mayor of Helsinki. "Preventing terrorism and organized crime remain focal issues."
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