The Regional EU-ASEAN Dialogue Instrument (READI) objective is to present policy options and assist in building the foundations for Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) community in non-trade areas by sharing knowledge and experience between the different regulatory systems, and to establish greater transparency and understanding between the European Union (EU) and ASEAN. The Facility will also support ASEAN in drafting its policy paper, defining its targeted results, elaborating its work plan, and implementing the latest developments ensuring best practice for the region.
Crosscutting issues like good economic governance, gender impact, sustainable development, good governance, human rights and rule of law will be elements that will feature in READI technical dialogue and subsequent activities of the project. READI now covers EU-ASEAN policy dialogues across 10 separate components, effectively doubling in size since commencing project activities.
The ten specific non-trade related sectors identified for immediate support under the READI Facility and its aims/activities for each component are as follows:
1. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) - Support ASEAN in the development of a transparent and coherent / harmonised ICT regulatory framework and the further development and strengthening of the ASEAN Spectrum Policy Forum (ASPF), for ASEAN experts and regulators to exchange, improve and update knowledge and skills as well as information on spectrum management. This component strives towards harmonisation, through the identification and implementation of common policies, of regional/global spectrum use, opening a common big market for emerging and strategic technologies with low cost and service charges for ASEAN customers.
The sub-project of 'spectrum management' aims at organising a series of workshops and training sessions on regulatory best practices in order to define and promote a set of technical and regulatory recommendations on spectrum management that will form the basis of a regional scheme for frequency management across ASEAN Member States. READI also conducts a series of activities aimed at promoting broadband rollout and take-up, notably by looking at the issues of inclusion / digital divide, trust and confidence of consumers and production and distribution of creative content, and supports various regulatory exchanges aimed at improving the regulatory framework for the telecom sector.
2. Energy- Implementation of the ASEAN Plan of Action on Energy Cooperation (APAEC) 2010-2015, in particular in the areas of energy efficiency and conservation, bio fuel, investment framework, and energy security (including diversification of energy sources and energy infrastructure) and the development of clean energy technologies . READI experts have conducted numerous seminars and workshops aimed at assessing Biofuels Policies in selected ASEAN and EU Countries and to discuss and exchange information on policies, progress and challenges in creating a dialogue between ASEAN and EU biofuels stakeholders in order to maximise the combined potential of Southeast Asia's abundant biomass resources, and the EU's has state-of-the-art biomass-to-biofuel conversion technologies. READI's energy component also focusses on searching for an effective cooperation on energy security between ASEAN countries, such as forging stronger partnership in new energy development in order to diversify energy sources and to contribute, among others, to enhanced energy access and rural development while securing adequate supply of energy and take into account issues and challenges of sustainable development and addressing the challenge of growing energy demand against the rising dependence on oil import.
The clean energy technology sub project of READI's energy component aims to identify the technological options and priority actions that governments and industry can undertake towards a low-carbon future for ASEAN through (i) conducting an EU-ASEAN Dialogue on clean energy technologies and (ii) development of Technology Development Prospects for the ASEAN Power Generation Sector in collaboration with the EU.
The approval by the ASEAN Regional Energy Policy and Planning Sub - Sector Network (REPP-SSN), in February 2014, of the ASEAN Energy Market Integration (AEMI) Group cooperation proposal to closely cooperate with the REPP-SSN for the preparation of the next ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation (APAEC 2015-2020), could generate a new field of cooperation and exchanges between the EU and ASEAN, in the field of the integration of the ASEAN Energy Market, as part of the implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Energy Blue Print.
3. Science and Technology - Implementation of the ASEAN Plan of Action on Science and Technology (APAST) and its flagship programmes such as the Green Energy Network of Excellence (ANEGER) and the Food Security Network of Excellence (COMMOD). READI activities in setting up these two Pilot Networks of Excellence has included establishing a pilot scheme for ASEAN Pilot Networks of Excellence consisting of a number of excellent research labs from different ASEAN Member States engaging in networking and joint (applied) research and outreach to user groups. READI supported the organisation of kick-off meetings at the locations of the Pilot Network coordinators so that network participants could meet for the first time face-to-face for three-day organisational and content meetings. The Pilot Networks of Excellence activity fills a void in the regional S&T cooperation landscape and continues to receive considerable visibility and allows for close coordination with the regional S&T policy-making processes. READI is ideally set up to support such a pilot initiative given its link to the ASEAN Science and Technology policy level
4. Disaster Management - Working towards an ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and having an Emergency Response (AADMER) monitoring and evaluation system agreed and in place. Extensive work has been conducted to develop concept notes for its flagship and priority programmes in implementing the AADMER Work Programme Phase 2 (2013-2015): (1) Hospital Networking for Resilience Initiative; (2) Strengthening Community Resilience;(3) One Against Disaster and Climate Risks: Strengthening Institutional and Policy Framework on DRR and CCA Integration; and (4) Towards a Regional Risk Pool: Establishing the ASEAN Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance Programme.
5. Education - Conducting extensive research and coordinating various workshops to produce the first ASEAN state of education report whereby READI experts have studied and assessed the Education Systems and Policies in ASEAN. The study serves as a platform on which ASEAN and EU policymakers could engage in a policy dialogue to exchange best practices and exchange information on regional developments in education and is vital in understanding the actual situation in each ASEAN member states for the preparation of the Harmonisation of Qualification Framework and Quality Assurance.
6. Human rights - Developing complex human rights work plans and integrating the EU-ASEAN Human Rights Programme into the existing READI setup. In close coordination with the EU delegation and the concerned division in the ASEAN secretariat, READI has been READI has provided immediate support to a series of AICHR regional workshops on combatting human trafficking, improving maternal health and mortality, mainstreaming gender issues into climate change adaptation and developing effective post-MDG human rights development strategies. All stakeholders have begun to explore ways of how to modify READI’s governance structure of Project Management Committee and Project Steering Committee, in order to reflect the strong emphasis on human rights dialogue.
Activities in this component have also included supporting the AICHR advanced programme on human rights training of trainers and holding regional meetings on the sharing of best practices in human rights preservation coordination and institutional strengthening.
7. Capacity building - Providing support to the EU-ASEAN coordinating mechanisms to facilitate effective institutional capacity building and enhanced cooperation. The ASEAN Coordinating Country for the EU's coordination (Vietnam) has been particularly instrumental political/security and social/cultural pillar activities, which have been the focus of the ASEAN-EU Plan of Action 2013-2017, and where the EU has been developing new competences, policies and instruments. In order to help ASEAN Coordinating Country for the EU undertake its coordination mission in an optimal manner, a working visit to EU institutions for a small group of key officials from the Vietnamese foreign ministry, Vietnam’s permanent mission to ASEAN, and the ASEAN Secretariat have been organised.
8. Climate Change - Facilitation of EU-ASEAN roundtable discussions on climate change threats and challenges and ways in which increase EU-ASEAN dialogue and cooperation can result in a strong approach to strategic regional climate change adaptation frameworks.
9. Maritime Cooperation - Initiating the first major EU-ASEAN high level expert’s workshop on Maritime cooperation to facilitate high level dialogue on Maritime Surveillance/Information Sharing and port security issues. Policy makers and stakeholders from ASEAN and the European Union met with the aim of sharing experiences on maritime cooperation within their respective regions. The event served as a platform to identify the unique and distinctive challenges and obstacles faced by ASEAN as it tries to develop a regional maritime policy such illegal and unregulated fishing, trafficking in persons, weapons smuggling, piracy and armed robbery, acts of terrorism, marine pollution, unsustainable development of coastal communities, and biodiversity loss among others, and has created an opportunity to explore ways in which the EU’s experiences, best practices and lessons learnt may contribute solutions for the aforementioned challenges facing ASEAN cooperation.
10. Mediation, Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation - Preliminary planning and coordination of high level conferences on conflict resolution and reconciliation have been initiated.