Asia and Central Asia are crucial European Union partners – economically, politically and culturally. The region accounts for more than half of the world’s population, a quarter of global economic wealth and contains key energy resources. Poverty remains a significant challenge as the region is still home to two-thirds of the world’s poorest people. These pages reflect the main work we are undertaking in each country, and also at a regional level, on sustainable development.
Other challenges such as climate change, environmental degradation, avian flu and illegal trade exist in many countries and have now developed into regional issues.
What's On
ASEM Workshop “Building an Inclusive Information Society”
The Government of Malaysia and the EU will hold an ASEM Workshop on “Building an Inclusive Information Society” on 1-2 Decembre 2009 in Kuala Lumpur. The workshop will offer a platform for sharing best practices from national and regional Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for development programmes.
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Opening Ceremony of a human right project in Turkmenistan
02.10.09 - Today took place the launching event of the project « Strengthening the national capacity of Turkmenistan to promote and protect human rights ». This is the first large scale partnership between the European Commission (EC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Turkmenistan. It is also the first donor wide cooperation intervention on Human Rights issues - in its broad understanding - in the country. The European Commission has allocated two million Euro for the implementation of this project which will run for three years and which will enhance the Government of Turkmenistan’s ability and capacity to fulfill its international obligations. The project will also contribute to raise awareness and increase understanding of human rights of the people living in Turkmenistan.
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Reinforcing EU-Central Asia relations
18.09.09 - The European Commission held a series of meetings on 14-16 September in Brussels with the objective of strengthening its relations with Central Asian countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan). Notably, an EU-Central Asia Ministerial Troika took place on 15 September with regional security issues, the global economic crisis and energy and water as main issues of the agenda. Previously, an EU-Uzbekistan Cooperation Council was held including discussion on cooperation issues. These meetings took place in the framework of the Swedish Presidency of the EU and are part of the existing dialogue with Central Asia based on the 2007 EU Strategy for the region.
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ASEM conference on the new Asian growth model
08.09.09- The next ASEM (Asie Europe Meeting) Conference "Beyond the global crisis: a new Asian growth model?" will take place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 18–20 October 2009. The Conference is organised by the European Commission and the Asian Development Bank. It will examine how the structure of growth in Asia and Europe will change in the aftermath of global recession and the policy challenges that lie ahead. It will provide input to the ASEM process, notably for the preparation of the ASEM Finance Ministers meeting in Spain next year.
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First CAREN Steering Committee Meeting
01.07.09- Progress on the CAREN (Central Asia Research and Education Network) network will be discussed at two high profile meetings to be held in Almaty, Kazakhstan between 30 June and 2 July 2009. Attendees include high level representatives from the Central Asian partner countries, demonstrating the importance of this project to the region and beyond. The project funded by the EC will provide high capacity Internet links for the first time to one million students and researchers in over 200 universities and research institutions in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to each other and to the global research community through connection to the high-speed pan-European GÉANT network. Visit the CAREN website at
http://caren.dante.net
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Story from the field
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Improving food security of vulnerable population in Ulanbaatar city and Bayan Olgii province
An integrated food security strategy has been established in the Bayan Olgii province in order to tackle poverty. It involves organised food distribution, the creation of gardeners’ networks and the support of fodder production and animal shelter.
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Preventing malnutrition and improving the status of malnourished children in Ulanbaatar city
Malnutrition (vitamin, mineral deficiency) of children is a major health issue in Mongolia. This project supports the national health system to prevent, detect and treat this condition by training medical staff and creating nutrition promotion units.
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Educating change agents and the public on human rights
Most people in Nepal were not aware of their rights or the rights of others, especially during the 10-year conflict. Under this project Worldview Nepal educated change agents and the public on all aspects of human rights in 14 of the 75 districts.
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Renewable energy for the communities of rural Nepal
The EC has been funding the Alternative Energy Promotion Service in Nepal. By supporting renewable energy infrastructure, income generation and sustainable growth is facilitated and life in rural areas is easier (general community energy services).
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Working with vulnerable communities
With special focus on women, farmers and youth groups, Socio-Economic Improvement Programme for Ex-Kamaiyas and other Vulnerable Communities SEIPEV has launched a livelihood improvement programme for greater economic security and income generation.
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