Regional Office in Singapore

FES regional work in Northeast and Southeast Asia

The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung's project region in Southeast and East Asia covers the 10 members of ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) with over 500 million inhabitants along with China, South Korea and Japan with more than 1.4 billion people. The region as a whole is characterised by a great ethnic, religious and political heterogeneity and considerable disparities in economic development and social relations. These pose a major challenge to political stability, economic cooperation and above all regional integration.

One of the key regional themes in Southeast Asia last year was the adoption of an ASEAN Charter at the 13th ASEAN Summit held in Singapore in November 2007. The Charter is the culmination of 40 unbroken years of integration and it will establish the foundations for cooperation of a more binding nature. The Charter includes a commitment to democracy and protection of human rights. Nevertheless, the essential principles of the "ASEAN way", including decision by consensus and non-interference in internal affairs, remain in place.

The Office for Regional Cooperation in Southeast and East Asia based in Singapore works closely on projects with the FES country offices in the region. It supports and promotes regional integration processes and takes on issues that are of current public interest in both Asia and Europe and relevant to relations between the two continents. Focal themes in this regional work are labour market and social policies, security policy and media policy.

The Singapore Office is also responsible for observing countries in the region where the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung has no office, such as Cambodia and Laos, and running the corresponding programmes.