The Second Ministerial Asia-Middle East Dialogue Meeting(AMED II)
PARTNERSHIP IN ACTION TOWARDS A BETTER FUTURE
Sharm El Sheikh
5-6 April 2008
Report of the Chairman

The Meeting was attended by 45 states, 19 states were represented on a ministerial level, 10 states on a deputy ministerial level, 17 states on a sub-ministerial level and 7 international and regional organizations.

1-H.E. Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt, inaugurated the meeting by a statement where he underscored the importance of the Asia-Middle East Dialogue and coperation in the light of the great diversity in material and human resources and the multiplicity of the political and economic experiences.
He added that what the two regions possess in term of historic, civilized, and cultural heritage, offer a unique opportunity to expand the culture of tolerance and the respect of the others, as well as promoting the noble values and principles of religions towards attaining rapprochement among peoples, and insuring the international social stability. He emphasized the necessity of cooperation regarding issues such as combating terrorism, organized crime, defamation of religion, respect for human rights, natural disasters and climate change.
He stated that the civil society and the private sector account for a substantial contribution to political, economic and social reforms, as well as to underpinning the culture of respect for Human Rights and democratic practice in favor of societies and populations, and translating the Dialogue aspirations into programs and practical projects for cooperation.
Finally, he expressed his hope that the Dialogue would promote development and peace efforts in the Middle East in order to provide a decent standard for living and a secure future for generations to come.
Minister Abou El Gheit declared that Egypt will hold the meeting of the Working Group for Economic issues at the earliest convenience with a principle participation of the private sector from the member states of the Dialogue.

2-H.E.George Yong-Boon Yeo, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Singapore highlighted the achievements realized since the first Dialogue Meeting in Singapore, particularly the establishment of three working groups of the Dialogue, which succeeded in setting the standards for issuing Halal food certificates to facilitate trade and investment in this industry, the establishment of two regional training centers in Amman and Doha in the areas of vocational training and public administration, and organizing three training programmes about securing maritime navigation, managing harbors, the intellectual property in Dialogue States, and organizing a round table for media experts in Singapore in 2006. He proposed that cooperation for the coming period should be focused on the areas of environment, climate change, culture, labor force, exchanging knowledge on developmental experiences, addressing the international issues of energy security, religious disputes and international terrorism. He also proposed the establishment of an electronic network to connect governments, private sector, civil societies and individuals.
He welcomed the proposal made by His Royal Highness King Abdullah, Custodian of the two Holly Mosques to launch a dialogue among the three divine religions. He also welcomed the recent agreement by the Islamic leaderships under the auspices of Jordan and the Vatican, to establish a permanent forum for dialogue between Muslims and Catholics.

3-H.E.Farouk Hosni, Minister of Culture of the Arab Republic of Egypt, underlined in his statement on behalf of the Middle East, the strong connection between culture, politics, economics and development process, taking into consideration that culture is a human denominator that contributes to realizing the common interests among peoples.
He referred to the Silk Road as an ancient course of cultural trade, and social communication between Asia and the Middle East, asserting the importance of culture in reconciling among adversaries in a world characterized by anxiety and fanaticism as well as the importance of the dialogue in advocating reconciliation, that gives the other his/her rights without injustice.

4- H.E. Wang Yi, Deputy Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China, addressed in his statement on behalf of the Asian countries the historical significance of the two regions, both of them witnessed the birth of the four ancient civilizations and three main religions which contributed to the advancement of human civilization. He stressed that globalization showed that stability; solidarity and cooperation are the principle basis for peace and development.  He suggested the establishment of a mechanism for cooperation between energy producing and exporting countries especially that the trade volume between the two regions exceeds 4 trillion Dollars. He also called for a dialogue among religions and cultures for common advancement of civilizations and societies. Finally, he referred to the Chinese economic development experience as a model, emphasizing the right of each country to choose the model it deems appropriate.

5-Deliberations of the meeting were conducted along three tracks, Political and Security Issues, Economic Issues and Social, Educational, Scientific and Media Issues. Under each track, four specialized panels were held. The speakers and moderators in the panels were from China, Egypt, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Lebanon, Malaysia, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand, United Arabic Emirates, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

6- During the opening session on Political and Security Issues, the following main proposals and ideas were raised:
-A proposal for holding regional meetings to prove that Islam is not linked to terrorism.
-A proposal to benefit from the South Asia studies Center for Combating Terrorism (SEARCCT) in Malaysia in promoting cooperation on combating terrorism between Asia and the Middle East countries.
-A proposal to establish a follow up mechanism on the implementation of decisions and the recommendations resulting from the Asia-Middle East Dialogue.
-A proposal to change the title of the dialogue to be "The Asia-Arab Dialogue", in view of the fact that some Arab states that do not belong geographically to the Middle East Region.

During the Panel on “Governments and Civil Societies”, the following main proposals and ideas were raised:
-The importance of the role of civil society organizations in participating with governments in evaluating of human rights circumstances through review mechanisms.
-The importance in rationalising the monitoring limits of the executive institutions on civil society's organizations, and restricting the right of suspending these organisations.
-The participation of the Civil Society in drafting their laws and the administrative regulations, and the necessity of a decisive role for the judiciary system in controlling the relations between governments and civil society organizations.
-The importance of an effective partnership between the civil society and governments to overcome the problems of poverty, unemployment, education and Human Rights.

Proposals on “Effective Governance and Political and Economic Transformations” were made as follows:
-A proposal to assign an annual prize for the best practices on transparency, integrity and combating corruption in the member states of the Dialogue.
-The importance of the role of effective governance in confronting certain international dangers like terrorism and combating corruption.
-The importance of the role of the private sector in voluntary work and assuming a social responsibility for the development of the society. 

During the Panel on “Natural Disasters and Communicable Diseases” the following main proposals were raised:
-The importance of supporting programs for technology advancement in manufacturing vaccines and drugs for combating communicable diseases and facilitating the transfer of this technology to afflicted countries with fewer restrictions than those imposed globally.
-The necessity of upgrading the capabilities of trained personnel in this field and  the formation of specialized working teams in administrative bodies and societal organizations to monitor any mutation in the communicable diseases and to deal effectively with the outbreak of such epidemics.
-The importance of supporting developing countries and those with limited economic capacities in order to enhance their laboratory and research capabilities, which represent the front line for early warning of these epidemics.
-The necessity of implementing programmes for increasing public awareness with a view to changing passive behaviours particularly in rural communities which are considered the source of generating such epidemics.

During the Panel on "Comprehensive Approach for Combating Terrorism in Asia and the Middle East", the following main proposals were raised:
-The importance of cooperation in the field of legislative expertise on regional and international levels for combating terrorism, and calling all countries to ratify International and bilateral legislations on this subject.
-The importance of holding an International Conference under the auspices of the United Nations to reach a consensus on the definition of terrorism and pursuing a comprehensive multilateral approach for combating terrorism.
-The importance of cooperation for combating electronic crimes.
-The establishment of an international mechanism to deal with the phenomenon of terrorism.
-The importance of adopting global national strategies for development, combating poverty and job creating, as well as for effective ideological and structural effective confrontation  of the phenomenon of terrorism.
-The use of media and education systems to increase public awareness to encourage the participation of masses in combating terrorism.
-The importance of conducting an effective inter-faith dialogue which is on the top of the agenda of the Asia-Middle East Dialogue.

7-During the opening session on Economic Issues, the following main issues were raised:
-The importance of cooperation to confront the negative impacts of the economic and financial crisis in the developed countries, which may adopt protectionist trade policies, thus leading to a setback in the global trading system.
-Among main reasons for the world food crisis is the shortage of supply due to environmental factors and shortage of water, the increasing demand resulting from the economic growth in India and China, and using some agriculture products as  a bio fuel, which represent a waste of natural resources, and should be replaced by renewable energy.
-The economic importance of the sovereign funds, most of which are located in Asia and the Middle East, with strict abidance by acknowledged standards, particularly, transparency, long term investment, non-speculation in money exchange markets and non-politicization of decisions.
-The importance of improving the climate of investment through tax and customs reforms.
-The importance of cooperation among Dialogue members for attracting investments and facing competition of other geographical regions.
-A proposal to establish a committee to follow up the recommendations of the Dialogue meetings in order to define the necessary means for their implementations and to submit progress reports in this concern.

At the Panel on "Developing Cooperation between Oil-producing and Consuming Countries in Asia and the Middle East", the following main proposals were raised:
-A proposal for cooperation in the fields of: extending an ASEAN-supported pipeline via Asia among Dialogue countries, investment in infrastructure, and cooperation in the domain of renewable energy, energy efficiency and green technology for global warming control.
- Singapore addressed an invitation to the Dialogue members to participate in the Energy International Week during the period from 3-7 November 2008.
-Extracting energy resources from agriculture is still not cost effective and is conductive to higher food prices. Alternative energy is also environment polluting and affects cultivated areas especially in the Asian continent; therefore it does not count as an economically viable option.
-A proposal for the establishment of a working group for energy to meet in the run-up of the AMED III.
-A proposal to hold a meeting on technical cooperation on transfer of technology and research for development and environment protection.
-Encouraging researches and development in unconventional fields such as oil sand, heavy oil and ultra-heavy residues.

During the Panel on “The Development of the Banking Sector in Asia and the Middle East”, the following proposals were raised:
-The necessity of intensifying cooperation among Dialogue countries with regard to Islamic Banks. Indonesia expressed its willingness to receive experts from the Middle East region to train them in the work of Islamic banking and financing.
-The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) expressed its readiness to cooperate with the Asian countries for the development and promotion of Islamic modes of financing.

During the panel on "Expanding Trade and Investment Partnerships between Asia and the Middle East, the following proposals were raised:
-Expanding trade agreements between Asia and the Middle East countries.
-The importance of pursuing cooperation among dialogue states for producing processing and setting a widely accepted standard for Halal food products. In this regard, Thailand invites investment into the project of developing Halal food industrial estate in Pattani province in Southern Thailand.

The Panel on the “The Promotion of Tourist Exchange between Asia and the Middle East” focused on the necessity of facilitating and simplifying procedures for getting entry visas among Dialogue countries.
8-During the opening session on Social, Educational, Scientific and Media Issues, the following issues were raised:
-Jordan expressed its willingness to support the setting up of an Asian- Middle Eastern Center for Information Technology in Amman similar to the already established Vocational Training Center within the context of Asia-Middle East Dialogue.
-Singapore voiced its readiness to put in place and manage a parallel on-line secretariat for the Dialogue, to facilitate communication and flow of information among     member states, to collect all data and documents on Dialogue meetings and affiliated working groups, to inform members of meetings and events related to the Dialogue and to different working groups alongside the continued role of organizers of such events in terms of their preparation and receipt of replies concerning them.
The Head of Delegation of the Sultanate of Oman presented two working papers on education and vocational training for discussion in the upcoming Steering Committee Meeting.

During the Panel on "Developing Cooperation between Asia and the Middle East in the Field of Human ٌResources and Movement of Labour Force", the following proposals were raised:
-A proposal to prepare a framework for an agreement to regulate the movement of the labour force in order to safeguard their rights and those of employers.
-A proposal to establish a framework agreement in order to define a unified criteria to measure labour competence.
-Making use of the experiences of other countries in the field of labour movement such as the European Union- North Africa Agreement.
- Holding a symposium on labour movement to revise in details the experiences in Dialogue countries.

During the Panel on “Combating Defamation of Religion and Promoting Mutual Respect Among Peoples ", the following proposals were highlighted:
-A call for dialogue among followers of the three divine messages and other religions and expansion of the scope of religious dialogue to cover cultural and people's interaction.
-The importance of the role played by religious institutions to promote dialogue among religions and respect of spiritual values for all religions and cultures and to rectify wrong perceptions.
-The necessity of interaction between media networks with civil society organizations thus contributing to the dialogue among civilizations, leading to mutual understanding and aspired reconciliation among all religions and cultures.
-The necessity of devising a strategy for joint defence of Islam and its symbols and underscoring the importance of the role assumed by the Muslims of Asia in this respect.
-A proposal to hold a forum this year for dialogue among religions with a view to establishing practical mechanisms to address East-West problems.

During the Panel on “Promoting Cooperation and Exchange of Information and Experiences in the Fields of Science & Technology and IT between Asia and the Middle East”, the following proposals were raised:
-A proposal on cooperation among dialogue countries to study what is called diplomacy of S&T as a new branch of diplomacy.
-A proposal to establish international centers of excellence in the technology training, and exchange training human resources among Member States of the Dialogue.
-A proposal for the establishment of training centers in the field of R&D to serve industry, with a special focus on researches for development in the area of renewable energy particularly solar energy experiences.
 -The importance of the exchange of technological experiences to attain integration among Dialogue members in the field of "Digital Inclusion".
-Singapore invited member States of the Dialogue to attend a conference in June 2008, discussing International Solutions for Water Crisis, particularly regarding its rarity or its misuse.

During the Panel on “National Policies and International Cooperation on Plans Dealing with Climate Changes in Asia and the Middle East”, the following proposals were raised:
- The necessity of coordinating stances among Dialogue countries as regards the ongoing negotiations for reviewing the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol in support of positions of South countries and to obligate North countries to shoulder their responsibility.
-The importance to define global national programmes to deal with climate changes, based on agreed principles and goals.
-Establishing strategies for "Clean development" to deal with climate changes without damaging the development process
- The importance of the exchange of experience and successful experiments in the field of producing environment-friendly technology and renewable energy, and considering mechanisms that enable countries to export surplus of renewable energy.

9- During different discussions, the Meeting's Participants expressed their conviction that the realization of peace and stability in Asia and the Middle East represents an underlying tributary of development efforts in the two regions. They corroborated in this respect the necessity of establishing during 2008 a viable Palestinian state on the basis of international legitimacy and intensifying efforts to help restore stability to Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan and Somalia.

10- The Meeting endorsed the “Sharm El Sheikh Declaration” on Principles of Friendship and Cooperation for Asia-Middle East Cooperation articulating the following main principles and objectives:

1. The commitment to the promotion and strengthening of traditional historic and cultural ties of friendship, neighborliness and cooperation binding Dialogue member countries.
2. Support the initiative for convening an International Conference on Terrorism-fighting under the auspices of the United Nations.
3. Stress the importance of Public-Private Partnership to facilitate and expand intra-economic cooperation.
4. The necessity of adopting specific procedures for further economic cooperation.
5. Emphasis on supporting dialogue among religions and cultures.
6. Stress the importance of the success of the 2010 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
7. Recognize and welcome the Treaty on the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapon-free zone, which has been in force since 1997, and support the establishment of the Middle East Region free of Weapons of Mass Destruction.

 
11-At the closing session, H.E. Ambassador Raouf Saad, Assistant Foreign Minister and General Coordinator of the meeting, announced that Egypt will prepare an action plan to be implemented during the next two years, under Thailand's presidency and until the Third Ministerial Meeting in Bangkok.  This action plan will include the initiatives and different practical proposals that were raised in Sharm El Sheikh's meeting and will be implemented according to the countries' interests. It will be submitted to the coming Steering Committee meeting for adoption.

12-On behalf of H.E Noppadon Pattama, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, and as representative of the host of the Third Ministerial AMED Meeting, H.E. Mr. Charivat Santaputra, Deputy Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Thailand and Head of the Thai delegation, delivered a statement urging countries in the Middle East and Asia to make the most of each other's comparative advantages, and to prioritize cooperation on issues of joint-exploration and development of energy, food, and human resource development, via exchange of visits, training programs and joint researches among academics, media and civil society. The Head of the Thai Delegation also emphasized the importance of promoting cultural understanding among society in both regions, as well as the need to support the voice of moderation in every society.