Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas participated on 5 and 6 June in the 10th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Ministerial, which was hosted by Hungary, the current EU Presidency. The ASEM, which turns 15 this year, is an informal forum for dialogue among 48 European and Asian countries and regional organizations. The Ministerial looked at preparations for the 2012 Summit Meeting in Laos, as well as at the issue of “non-traditional security threats”, and provided an opportunity for an exchange of views on inter-regional cooperation issues and proposals for enlarging participation in the ASEM.
Speaking on behalf of the EU, Mr. Droutsas focused his address on the issue of piracy, noting that since the beginning of 2011 there has been an increase in pirate attacks on merchant vessels off the coast of Somalia and in the Indian Ocean. The Minister referred to the serious impact of piracy on a country like Greece, which has one of the largest merchant fleets in the world, and underscored our country’s efforts to confront this phenomenon through operation Atalanta and our 2010 Chairmanship of the Contact Group on Piracy.
On the margins of the Ministerial, Mr. Droutsas met today with his counterparts from Mongolia and the Philippines.