Brussels, 18 November 2021 (TDI): Today’s 3rd ASEAN-EU Dialogue on Sustainable Development saw a Green Team Europe Initiative launched by the Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The EU has pledged an initial €30 million to the initiative. This will strengthen the EU’s partnership with the region in climate action and environmental protection and biodiversity. Therefore, it will also help to recover from disasters and prevent illegal logging.
Commissioner for International Partnerships, Jutta Urpilainen, said: “As strategic partners, the EU and ASEAN share a joint commitment to fostering a fairer, greener, and more sustainable future. Building back better is about supporting our economies and creating decent employment opportunities while also addressing climate change, tackling pollution, and protecting biodiversity. It requires rethinking our approach to development in a rapidly warming and increasingly interconnected planet. Green Team Europe Initiative is a pioneering step in the right direction, which I co-chaired along with partners from South-East Asia.”
🌏 In today’s @ASEAN-🇪🇺 Dialogue on Sustainable Development, I reaffirmed our joint commitment to foster a more sustainable future by launching 🌱Green #TeamEurope Initiative. It’s backed by a €30M grant and will benefit partners in South East Asia.
👉https://t.co/1ItlSZ2iZ8 pic.twitter.com/wmogFaO8tU
— Jutta Urpilainen (@JuttaUrpilainen) November 18, 2021
As part of EU’s overall Green Deal diplomacy, this initiative provides the platform to coordinate green action among Team Europe partners (Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Romania, and The European Investment Bank).
While ASEAN and its Member States are looking for synergies in their respective political contexts, notably the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 and the European Green Deal. It will also implement this Initiative in ASEAN at the national and regional levels.
For programmes and projects supporting the implementation of the Team Europe Initiative, the EU will award €30 million. This is only a fraction of the funding that Team Europe partners will mobilize for the Initiative.
Background
ASEAN and the EU increased their relationship to a Strategic Partnership in December 2020.
Five of the 20 most-affected countries by climate change are in South-East Asia as SEA is the most vulnerable region in the world because of climate change.
Team Europe Initiative, (TEI), provides a framework for a Green Initiative in South East Asia to address this challenge. It will combine the European Green Deal with the ASEAN Vision 2020. The collective commitment will solve this to a long-lasting, sustainable transformation towards resilient ecosystems. This will be a demonstration of the transformative power, the European Green Deal can have and can strengthen EU partnership with the region.
This regional TEI aims to strengthen and speed up ASEAN’s already strong partnership.
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