Asia-Europe Issues

By Peter Dhondt

BRUSSELS, Feb 17 (IPS) – After nearly three months of tension between India and Pakistan over the November attacks in Mumbai, prospects for renewed cooperation between the nuclear-armed neighbours remain dim, two South Asian analysts say.

By David Cronin

BRUSSELS, Oct 21 (IPS) - By the end of this week, Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will have spent 13 years under house arrest. By coincidence, the anniversary of her incarceration, Oct. 24), falls on the day the military junta will be represented in a summit between Asian and European leaders in Beijing.

By David Cronin

BRUSSELS, Oct 7 (IPS) - Plans to conclude free trade agreements (FTAs) between the European Union and several Asian economies are unlikely to be realised in the near future, a senior Brussels official has conceded.

By David Cronin

BRUSSELS, Jun 17 (IPS) - U.S. aid to Pakistan needs to put far greater emphasis on education and far less on the military than it has to date, a Brussels conference has been told.

By David Cronin

BRUSSELS, Mar 11 (IPS) - Economic sanctions imposed by the European Union on Burma are unlikely to have any effect on its military junta, a former Singaporean diplomat has said.

After Burmese authorities used force to break up peaceful protests by Buddhist monks in the capital Rangoon in late 2007, EU governments decided to ban imports of gemstones, timber and metal from the country in October.

BRUSSELS, Feb 19 (IPS Asia-Pacific) – The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) has acquired some heft since its birth in 2001. But how it picks its way across the minefield of different, at times conflicting interests -- in the shadow of giants China and Russia – remains its biggest challenge in the coming years.

BRUSSELS, Dec 11 (IPS Asia-Pacific) - The world's economic and political superpowers have been making a beeline for Central Asia, eyeing long-term agreements with the region.

By Peter Dhondt

BRUSSELS, Nov 16 (IPS) – Short-term prospects remain dim for democracy and human rights in Burma, but the hardship that drove monks and protesters into the streets in August and September may worsen the instability there and force neighbouring countries to press for drastic change.

BRUSSELS, Oct 30 (IPS) —Pakistan's political leaders are involved in a dangerous game that is pulling the South Asian nation in different -- and perilous directions that further entrench the dominance of the military, Pakistani military and political analyst retired Lt Gen Talat Mansood says.

BRUSSELS, Sep 19 (IPS Asia-Pacific) - South-east Asia is back on the development path more than a decade after the 1997 Asian financial crisis, which sent many economies reeling and slashed their growth rates. Experts, however, caution that pre-crisis levels of economic growth have yet to return.