
MARCH 2024 EIAS NEWSLETTER
The March 2024 issue of our monthly EIAS Newsletter has been launched with updates on our upcoming events and most recent publications and activities. Enjoy the read and we hope to see you at EIAS soon.
The March 2024 issue of our monthly EIAS Newsletter has been launched with updates on our upcoming events and most recent publications and activities. Enjoy the read and we hope to see you at EIAS soon.
The EUIndoPac Jean Monnet Teaching Module (40 hours) offers a unique way to learn about the EU’s policy and legal developments impacting the Indo-Pacific region. This crash course aims at preparing a new generation of law and policy students to understand the complexities of the EU’s evolving global role and its impact on the Indo-Pacific region. The Module is delivered by UCLouvain, IEE St Louis (180 in QS World University) and the European Institute for Asian Studies. Upon successful completion of the Module, participants will be issued a Certificate of Attendance.
Following the Lunar New Year celebrations, we would like to extend our warmest wishes to all of you for a prosperous Year of the Wooden Dragon. We are there deligthed to present you the February edition of our EIAS Newsletter.
The EU-Central Asia Investors Forum 2024 is the latest significant development in the EU’s commitment to improve connectivity in Central Asia. Most notably this includes the development of competitive intermodal transport, logistics networks, and to encourage sustainable development initiatives throughout the region. Bringing together high-level leaders and stakeholders from the EU, Central Asian states, the Caucasus, Türkiye, and other international partners, the Forum served as a platform to discuss future prospects for investment and collaboration in various connectivity sectors including digital, energy, and transports. These future investments and collaborations aim to pave the path for innovative methods and strategic partnerships.
On Monday, 5 February 2024, EIAS organised an Expert Roundtable Discusion on Mongolia-EU Climate Change Cooperation, gathering a small group of experts on the subject. The discussion addressed potential EU-Mongolia collaborations in the areas of climate change, migration, tourism and healthcare as climate change is intimately connected with increases in migratory populations, tourism and pressure on healthcare infrastructures.
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.
Japan is investing heavily to become a major producer of high-end electronic components, while the EU is looking to secure resilient supply chains. This might be the perfect opportunity for the EU and Japan to strengthen their ties and form a closer bond, truly realizing their respective and joint potential.
On 13 January 2024, the Taiwanese Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) secured the island’s presidency with 40% of the vote, simultaneously losing its majority in the concurrent elections for the Legislative Yuan, its parliament. The historic election, coming at the end point of a bitterly contested 3-way race between the DPP, its historical rival Kuomintang (KMT), and the novel Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), was marked by political polarisation, the proliferation of fake news, and Chinese attempts to influence the election towards the relatively China-friendly KMT. While the world worries about escalation in the Taiwan strait, a crucial gateway for commerce for both China and the European Union (EU), the reactions to the DPP’s win suggest that the next 4 years of DPP governance may herald few seismic changes in Taiwan’s relationship with China, the United States, and the EU.