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The European Union (EU) and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) said Thursday in a joint statement that the two regional organizations will seek to expand their cooperation with an "enhanced partnership."

The Nuremberg Declaration, adopted by the two blocs on Thursday after a two-day meeting of foreign ministers from the EU and ASEAN, is of "strategic significance" for the development of both regions, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters.

The declaration is the starting point for an even more intensive cooperation between Europe and Southeast Asia on issues such as regional security and climate change, said Steinmeier, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency.

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong, in the chair of ASEAN, said the two regions share common views and interest in the efforts to pursue world peace and prosperity.

The talks on the issues including regional security and climate change with the EU counterparts are "fruitful," he said.

EU chief diplomat Javier Solana also hailed the meeting as "constructive," saying the two regional organizations' common wishes and approaches to solve the world's most burning issues are "impressive."

Europe has called for more involvement by ASEAN countries in the Mideast peace process. At least two countries, Indonesia and Malaysia, have been "very active" on the issue, according to Solana.

Steinmeier has described Southeast Asia as a region that "comprises both stable communities and considerable instability," referring to the terrorist attacks in Bali, Indonesia, in 2002.

The recent successful joint monitoring mission in the conflict-torn Indonesian province of Aceh has offered "new grounds for cooperation" between the EU and ASEAN, he said.

Climate change is also among the most urgent challenges that the two sides can not afford to ignore, said Steinmeier.

The ambitious EU goal to fight climate change can only be achieved "if other international partners come on board," he said.

The EU leaders agreed last week in Brussels to set a binding target of 20 percent of renewable sources in EU energy consumption by 2020 in an ambitious strategy to fight climate change.

Meanwhile, the Europeans are seeking to expand economic cooperation with the ASEAN countries, said Steinmeier, noting that the EU is ASEAN's second largest export market and third largest trading partner after the United States and Japan.

The EU is looking into possibility of a free trade agreement with ASEAN and meanwhile is also negotiating comprehensive partnership agreements with a number of ASEAN states.

The ASEAN leaders agreed in January to establish a free-trade zone by 2015, five years earlier than previously proposed.

ASEAN with a total population of 500 million people groups Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Myanmar, the Lao People's Democratic Republic and Cambodia.

(Xinhua News Agency March 16, 2007)