| (November 11, 2004/ Brussels, Belgium) The high level two-day meeting between the Alliance of Liberals & Democrats for Europe (ALDE) and the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) finishes today at the European Parliament with the delegates from both continents expressing continued commitment to closer cooperation and to further strengthen relations between the two groups.The conference discussed the challenges and issues of liberal and democratic parties in the region. In the four sessions, the participants presented and discussed the recent political, economic, and social trends in Asia and Europe, globalization issues, multilateral cooperation as well as the enhancement of cooperation between CALD and ALDE.
The Asian speakers and session chairs were: Sam Rainsy, MP and Saumura Tioulong, MP (Sam Rainsy Party, Cambodia); Dr. Martin Lee (Democratic Party of Hong Kong); Mr. Heri Akhmadi, MP (Indonesian Party of Struggle, PDI-P); Senator S. Vijayaratnam (People’s Movement Party, Malaysia); Minister Rene Villa and Dr. Neric Acosta, MP (Liberal Party, Philippines); Dr. Chee Soon Juan (Singapore Democratic Party) Eui-young Chung, MP and Dr. Kim Myung-Ja, MP (Uri Party of South Korea); Dr. Rajiva Wijesinha (Liberal Party, Sri Lanka); Hung Chin-Chang, MP and Dr. Antonio Chiang (Democratic Progressive Party, Taiwan); and, Dr. Charoen Kanthawongs of the Democrat Party (Thailand).
The ALDE speakers and session chairs were Members of the European Parliament, among them: Graham Watson, Annemie Neyts, Andrew Duff, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff; Jules Maaten; Istvan Szenti-Ivanyi, Ona Jukneviciene, Dirk Sterckx, Lapo Pistelli, and Marco Pannella.
European Commissioners Louis Michel and Janez Potocnik spoke on the Lisbon Process and EU Enlargement, respectively.
Speakers and resource persons from Belgium include the Belgian Foreign Ministry’s Director for Asian Affairs, Ambassador Johan Maricou and Mr. Mark Van de Vreken of the cabinet of Minister Karel de Gucht. The farewell lunch was keynoted by Belgium’s former Secretary of State Dr. Jef Valkeniers.
Speakers from the Friedrich Naumann Foundation include: Dr. Irmgrad Schaetzer, FNF boardmember and former German federal minister; Dr. Jurgen Wickert, Director of the FNF International Political Dialogue and Mr. Uwe Johannen, FNF Regional Director for East and Southeast Asia. Matyas Eorsi,Leader of the Liberal Group in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and Liberal International Vice President gave the keynote address during the welcome dinner.
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