EU and Asia on International Trade Deals

The European Union (EU) will hold a two-day international trade meeting with Asian countries to discuss measures in strengthening the relationship between the two regions. The international trade discussion will be held in Hamburg, Germany prior to a Group of Eight Assembly. The event will focus on the proposal of the European Union with regards to the adoption of energy-saving technologies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in compliance with the Kyoto Protocol that is expiring in 2012. The Assembly hopes to draft a new set of guidelines after the termination of the Kyoto Protocol.

Aside from that, the meeting will begin with international trade bilateral talks between China and the European Union. Part of its agenda will be human rights and international trade issues. The EU hopes to convince China and other Asian countries to abolish the death penalty. Moreover, the gathering will tackle issues like climate conditions and energy. The annual gathering of nations began in the year 1996. It later became an international body of countries known as Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM). Its total membership accounts for 60 percent of international trade.