Cooperation

EU-Sri Lanka Relations: From Cooperation to Partnership

On 13 July 2022, after months of heavy protests, protestors stormed the Sri Lankan presidential palace. In what followed, then president Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled and resigned, being promptly replaced by his prime minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, through a Parliamentary vote. Since the turnover the economic and political situation within Sri Lanka remains delicate. As the island has increasingly become a centre of Sino-Indian rivalries, how can the EU assist its economic and political development and help address the crisis, in order to stabilise the country and avoid it becoming a flashpoint of competing interests.

Read the report of our Conference on “EU-Bangladesh Cooperation: Opportunities and the Bengal Tiger Economy”

Our report of the Conference is out now, feel free to have a look.

What’s Next for EU-Japan Security Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific?

December 2022 was a historic month for Japan’s foreign affairs. By targeting an increase of defence spending from 1% of its annual budget to 2% over the next 5 years and publishing new defence and security strategies, Japan is reacting to Asia’s new regional security environment. With new defence capabilities and a growing willingness to cooperate with “like-minded countries”, it is thereby making headway to become a stronger security actor in the region.

Stagnation in EU-China Economic Relations – What comes next?

The Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) agreed by China and the EU on 30 December 2020 was described by the

China and the EU in Climate Geopolitics

From the Kyoto Protocol to the Paris Agreement, international gatherings are becoming more frequent. By cooperating on the climate agenda and the transition towards cleaner energy, there is no doubt that China and the EU are key actors in setting the path towards a global greener future. The main question is: how?