On 28 February 2024 EIAS Director Lin Goethals contributed as a speaker to the “Scholars Programme on EU-ASEAN Relations (SPEAR)” organised by the Delegation of the European Union to ASEAN for researchers from the different countries in Southeast Asia. This Fourth Session of the Scholars Programme discussed the EU Strategy on the Indo-Pacific: A Regional Initiative to Complement ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP).
Amidst the complex currents of geopolitics, economic interdependence, and global challenges, the Third EU Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum convened in Brussels on 1-2, February 2024, hosted by Josep Borrell Fontelles, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission. Now in its third year, the forum holds significant weight as a cornerstone of the EU’s overarching strategy for Indo-Pacific cooperation, originally conceived in 2021. As the EU and the Indo-Pacific region increasingly intertwine across security, economy, and society, the imperative for a unified and well-coordinated response to common challenges as well as opportunities becomes ever more apparent.