October 16, 2014 (Fri) FES Special Lecture Series > Academic Activities

• 목록

"Asia and the EU: Looking for a Way In Creating Shared Value"

Special Lecture by Dr. Heung Chong KIM
(Vice President, KIEP & Managing Director, KU-KIEP-SBS EU Centre)

Date/Time: October 16, 2014 (Thurs) 17:00-18:15

Venue: Room 115 (Conference Room), International Studies Hall, Korea University

On October 16, the special lecture on " "Asia and the EU: Looking for a Way In Creating Shared Value" was given by Dr.Heung Chong KIM from Vice President, KIEP. According to his lecture, two decades’ experience of restored dialogue between Asia and Europe has been accumulated through various types of meeting such as bilateral trade negotiations, the U.N. Security Council, the Doha Development Agenda (DDA), the WTO and other international arenas, in addition to ASEM. For all the great achievements of growing interdependency and enhanced mutual understanding, however, it is true that a kind of discontent and frustration between the two continents has been growing. He tries to elaborate on this from the European point of view, and also explains the situation Asia is now facing from an Asian viewpoint.

He also mentions about international complex problem, the solution may be multidimensional and he suggests several solutions.

First of all, just as Europe is not composed of a single European character, nor is Asia. Secondly, let us turn to the economy and trade. Thirdly, global warming and climate change ask for intensive cooperation between Asia and Europe. In some areas, we need to bide our time to improve the situation, while in other areas we need to identify and analyze root causes of the problem as we explore opportunities for cooperation.

From his conclusion,not withstanding the wide range of potential efforts that can be made between Asia and Europe, nothing can be realized without mutual trust and consensus. Mutual trust can be created when we share common values, and consensus arises when we realize that we are in a same boat. Europe needs to bear in mind that maturity takes time, and explore the existence of common sense in a diverse Asia. Asia needs to overcome its relativism. It also needs to recognize its growing weight and take a more active part in global affairs as they are directly related to its development. Co-prosperity can be reached through mutual trust and consensus, all of which he wants to define as a progress.