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TAKING STEPS TO TACKLE PRESSING CONCERNS
Observers believe the regional groupings can build on their cooperation through the meeting, and establish benchmarks and working groups to tackle pressing issues.
“With the European Union, you always have to recognise the fact that it’s an agglomeration of countries which have different levels of development, different histories, languages, cultures, and even different interests,” said Dr Dutt.
“ASEAN is also an agglomeration of countries where the interests sort of don’t underline. Just to give a parallel, ASEAN countries are struggling with what to do with Myanmar and its junta.”
He added that Europe, however, has experience in slowly getting to their objectives.
“They’re more patient, they recognise the interests of different countries. This is their competitive advantage,” he noted.
“So therefore, in the longer term, I would be optimistic that they can get to more trade treaties, investment treaties, (and) tackling climate change while negotiating with countries in this region.”
When asked about the likely outcomes of the Indo-Pacific forum, Dr Dutt said: “We should not expect big trade agreements between these regional agglomerations, but sort of small steps.
“So one way to think of this is that this is not a sprint, that this is a marathon, and therefore this requires long-term vision and long-term commitment, especially of political capital and financial resources.”
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