MINUTES OF THE ASEM 2000 PEOPLE'S FORUM

MINUTES OF THE ASEM 2000 PEOPLE'S FORUM
INTERNATIONAL ORGANISING COMMITTEE
16-17 June 2000

Participants:
From Europe: Brid Brennan (TNI), Roland Wein (Asienhaus), Sergio Regazzoni (Centre Lebret)
From Asia: Chalida Tajaroensuk (Forum Asia, Thailand), T. Indrani (Southeast Asian Council for Food Security and Fair Trade, ERA Consumer, Malaysia), Marco Mezzera (Focus on the Global South), Ed Shepherd (AMRC)
From ASEM 2000 Korea NGO Forum: Shin Heisoo (Agenda Development), Jung Kang-ja (Planning and Publicity), Yoo Jaehyun (General Administration), Hyo-je Cho (International Cooperation), Yoon Jungsook (Planning and Publicity), Youngmi Yang (International Cooperation), Kim Choony (Environment Group), Hwang Soonchan (Religion Group), Yoon Youngmo (International Cooperation), Nicola (Secretariat/Volunteer), Seo Heesoon (Secretariat), Kim Sinn (Secretariat), Kang Hee-young (Women's Group), Kim Hae-ae (Environment Group), Choi Mikyung (Human Rights Group), Lee, Sung-Wook (Culture Group)

Contents:

1. Progress Reports: Europe, Asia, Korean IOC
2. Venue Difficulties
3. Report May Advocacy Tour of Europe
4. Fundraising update
5. Social Forum Discussion
6. Themes and Workshops / Elaborations

1. Progress Reports: Europe, Asia, Korean IOC

Europe, Brid Brennan: The early availability of the report of the first IOC meeting in February enabled us to move quickly. There was good attendance at the March 14 European preparation meeting. At the meeting hosted by NCOS in Belguim, network orgs, TNI, Asienhaus, Centre Lebret, One World Action, etc. agreed on active participation. We also decided to divide our work for hosting the advocacy tour. We have maintained good communication until now. We plan to have a second follow meeting up after this IOC meeting. Andy Rutherford from One World Action, NCOS and one other are unable attend this IOC meeting, but it does not mean their organisations won't be involved in the process. We are trying
to find Danish partner for IOC or for ASEM preparation because Denmark will be the venue for the next ASEM summit in 2002. For the moment, we have made contacts with two organisations in Denmark.

There have been various seminars in Europe on the issue of - or with the participation of civil society. One was in April in Brussels hosted by EC and European Institute for Asian Studies. Myself and Francis Daehoon Lee took part in the meeting on behalf of the IOC. It gave us an opportunity to raise the concept of Social Forum in Europe. There were 2 seminars in Italy. Brid went to Bolognia and Rome to give information on ASEM. Then there is the planned Civil Society Summit Meeting in Lisbon. It is an initiative of the Portuguese government in closing its presidency of EU. The hosting organisation in Lisbon, 'Foundactio Oriente" is an academic foundation. The programme will be similar to one organised by the Italian government at the time of ASEM 1.

We learned about the programme quite late. We wrote to them to send formal invitation to Korea and to ourselves. They have sent out the invitation as we have requested. We have some background information for anyone interested.

Asia, Marco Mezzera: Asian side has been less active in Asia compared to Europe. After the February meeting, we finalised Asian members of the IOC. Focus on the Global South, Forum Asia (Thailand-based Asian regional network), ERA Consumer (Malaysia), PARC (Japan), Infid (Indonesia), IPD (Philippines). Finalising the IOC members took some time but now they have all committed themselves to different degrees. We are less certain about PARC, our Japanese IOC member, in terms of the intensity of their interest and commitment. We have heard from two IOC members that they regret for not being able to participate in this meeting. It will be important to sharing information with them and to update them on the developments.

Next important step will be organisation of the Asian Information and Advocacy Tour. Already possible dates have been suggested. About the Civil Society Summit in Portugal, no one from the Focus is able to participate. There is an effort to have some one from Malaysia to go, but given that there is not much time, there is a problem in getting the visa.

Chalida Tajaroensuk: Burmese friends will also participate in the committee. AMM (ASEM Ministerial Meeting) will be held in Thailand on July 24 and 25. July. We should be thinking about doing something for this.

Youngmi Yang: We have received communication from the PARC that they could not come for this meeting but expressed that they are committed to moving forward with the work.

Korean IOC, Various:
Chung Kang-Ja: One new thematic group, "volunteer movement", has been added to the original 12 thematic groups preparing for the October People's Forum. There are now 136 groups in Korea participating in the preparation of the People's Forum. We can discuss the preparations in the 13 thematic groups tomorrow in the scheduled session. We have had a number of informal meetings with various government offices - the Blue House, Policy Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Mofat), and the ASEM Coordination Unit. The main points of discussion with the government has been: 1) preparing for People's Forum 2) IOC will be responsible for People's Forum details 3) creation of Social Forum 4) financial support from the Korean government. Korean groups have also visited and met with ASEM member country embassies in Korea with an aim to explain our plans for the People' Forum, our ideas for Social Forum in the ASEM, and to facilitate greater participation of the civil society from their countries, and to enrol their support for our proposal for Social Forum and the People's Forum itself. The embassies we met with were: Denmark, Sweden, Italy, EC Delegation, Germany, France, Portugal on the Europe side and Indonesia, China, Thailand, Singapore on the Asia side. We have found the European embassies were very positive and interested in ASEM and in our ideas. They were, however, reticent about presenting their ideas about civil society participation, and pointed to the Korean government - as a key Asian actor and in its role as the hosting and chair nation for the ASEM III. However, Asian embassies seemed not to be sensitive to the civil society dynamics concerning the ASEM. They seemed to take "wait and see" stance, particularly "looking" to see what Korean government will do. China in particular took a very cautious stance.

From the meetings we realised that the role of the Korean government would be very important. Another key lesson is the need to build greater awareness and activism among Asian organisations and societies about ASEM and our People's Forum. On the issue of raising funds, we have been able to obtain, for the moment, the commitment of the Korean government which amounts to about 40% of the needed budget. This amounts to about USD 150,000. We are planning to expand on this with continued contacts with the Korean government.

On the matter of publicity, we have now English and Korean brochures. We are close to being ready to launch a webpage. The Korean groups held a press conference to highlight the preparation so far and the achievements of the European Information and Advocacy Tour. We have a Secretariat staffed so far by on person, Kim Sinn, but now with added capacity with the recent appointment of a General Secretary, Ms. Seo Hee-soon.

2. Venue Difficulties

Just before this meeting the Korean government raised objections to the planned venue of the People's Forum, the Buddhist temple which is situated directly across the street from the venue of the official summit. The government is concerned about the security risks and, presumably, about possible embarrassing situations. They have also pointed out that it would ultimately be very unpractical for those taking part in the people's forum as the temple would be within the security cordon and all participants would be screened entering and leaving. Negotiations are ongoing between the Korean government and the IOC, with whom the ultimate decision rests.

3. Report from the May Advocacy Tour in Europe

An Information and Advocacy tour of was held from May 14 to 26 and visited Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, and the European Commission and Parliament. The delegation met with government representatives, parliamentarians, embassy people, and NGO representatives.

Government responses were, on the whole, positive and they seemed interested in the idea of a Social Forum within ASEM and questioned the delegation at great length on its structure and how they saw it operating. An issue for many of the European governments remains to whom the responsibility of proposing the social forum should fall - most feel that it should be an Asian country. Korea then, as the hosting nation, would be a good choice. Many parliamentarians consulted showed great interest and regretted that the role and participation of parliamentarians were absent in ASEM and expressed an interest in being involved in the process in some way. In meetings with academics, it was clear that the opinion in Europe is that the governments are hiding behind behind the perceived reluctance of the Asian governments.

4. Funding approaches for the Asem 2000 People's Forum

5. Social Forum Discussion

There was a lengthy discussion on the theme of the social forum. As the IOC meets with various embassies and governments, it becomes more important for the details of the social forum to be worked out in a clearer manner. Not only for the sake of clarity but also for ourselves to know what we wish from it. Concerns were raised about the problems of co-option, what happens if the social forum proposal is accepted and the governments want to choose who can participate in it? Will the establishment of a social forum mean that no other inputs will be possible from civil society
than through it? The discussion turned to the text of the proposal which was then reworded to emphasise the desire for the forum to 'have access' to the official process' yet to remain independent of it. In this sense it was felt that we should not follow the example of the Business Forum, but rather a format more of our making. See revised text of Social Forum Proposal.

6. Themes and workshops

Rather than a summary of the discussion you will find here the proposed timetable and some comments on the elaboration of the sessions and the choice of speakers.

IMPORTANT

Process for choosing and inviting speakers for the plenaries and the workshops.
All are invited to suggest speakers for the plenaries and the workshops as well as organisations which should get involved in the elaboration of the workshops. All suggestions must be centralised at the Korean IOC however, particularly for invited speakers. This is to avoid inviting too many speakers and so that the secretariat has an overview of who
is being invited. We will begin inviting speakers very soon so suggestions should be sent to Korea asap.