Visit by Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan to Brunei Darussalam for the 25th ASEAN - European Union Ministerial Meeting, 27 to 28 April

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan attended the 25^th ASEAN-European Union Ministerial Meeting (AEMM) in Brunei Darussalam from 27 to 28 April 2026.

Minister Balakrishnan reaffirmed ASEAN’s longstanding partnership with the European Union (EU) and underscored the shared commitment by both regions to support multilateralism. In particular, he emphasised the need to uphold international rule of law and called for ASEAN and the EU to “unequivocally reaffirm the importance of maintaining freedom of navigation and overflight, ensuring safe and unimpeded passage through key maritime routes, especially straits used for international navigation, in accordance with the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea”. Minister Balakrishnan also encouraged both sides to make progress on an ASEAN-EU Free Trade Agreement and highlighted emerging areas of cooperation between ASEAN and the EU, including the green transition and the digital economy. The transcript of Minister Balakrishnan’s remarks is appended at Annex.

On the sidelines of the AEMM, Minister Balakrishnan met his counterparts from Cambodia, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Germany, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovakia, Thailand, and the EU. They discussed global and regional developments, and reaffirmed cooperation to uphold a rules-based international order.

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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

SINGAPORE

28 APRIL 2026

Annex

Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan: Good morning. I would like to first thank Brunei Minister of Foreign Affairs II Dato Erywan Yusof for the warm hospitality and excellent arrangements. I would also like to thank European Union (EU) High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas for meeting me for breakfast just now. I have been thinking about what we discussed. To share with everyone, we discussed why we needed the United Nations (UN) Charter and the need to uphold international rule of law. We also discussed its limits.

First, on the limits of the international rule of law. The UN Charter does not promise that every border is going to be historically accurate. It does not promise that every injustice in the world is going to be corrected. The reason we have to support the UN Charter and international rule of law is because it enjoins us not to resort to the threat or the use of force as a licence to correct historical inaccuracies or colonial hangovers – particularly here in Southeast Asia – or to correct every injustice in the world. That distinction is important. If we fail to appreciate that distinction and give in to the temptation to use the threat or use of force, it is a licence for big powers to indulge in their appetites using these apparently tempting siren calls that they are correcting “historical errors” or pursuing a “just cause”.

And I believe we are now at a point in which both the EU and ASEAN instinctively understand what we will lose if we give in to these temptations, to take shortcuts, and to abandon the international rule of law and in particular the UN Charter. Especially because all of us in Southeast Asia were colonies, with the exception of Thailand. The EU has also had a complicated intra-EU history where you fought many wars amongst yourselves which led to two world wars in the last century. This is the strategic basis of why the EU and ASEAN need to double down and do things together. More specifically, there are a couple of areas of cooperation I want to highlight.

First, we have all been caught up with the current situation in the Strait of Hormuz. I will not get into the justifications of who is right and who is wrong. However, it is critical for ASEAN and the EU to unequivocally reaffirm the importance of maintaining freedom of navigation and overflight, ensuring safe and unimpeded passage through key maritime routes, especially straits used for international navigation, in accordance with the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. I believe there is no difference in the position of the EU and ASEAN on this fundamental principle.

Another area of cooperation is on the need for energy security. As a whole, ASEAN is a net energy importer, at least for now. This is until we can get further investments into our development of renewable energy and until we can get our ASEAN Power Grid going. I am not sure what the figure is for the EU, but I suspect that the EU is also dependent on imported energy for now. Therefore, energy security is a strategic issue for both ASEAN and the EU. We welcome the EU's sharing of technical and regulatory expertise on cross-border energy trade, as well as the potential financing of the ASEAN Power Grid. Your technical and financing experience will be relevant to ASEAN’s efforts to implement the ASEAN Power Grid.

Another area of cooperation is on trade. European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas has already mentioned that the EU has free trade agreements (FTAs) with Singapore and Vietnam, which are ratified and are in force. The EU has also settled on an FTA with Indonesia. We should speed up the negotiations for an ASEAN-EU FTA. If we cannot do it now when we are under pressure, I worry that when things settle down, we will get back to our usual, somewhat complacent approach. This is of strategic importance. I urge all members of the EU and the remaining members of ASEAN to double down and work on this.

The next point I want to make is on the digital economy. ASEAN will sign the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement this year, which will further strengthen ASEAN's digital integration and enhance inter- and intra-regional digital trade opportunities. We hope that the EU will participate in this as well, to cooperate on digital trade and support its implementation. I hope that the EU-Singapore Digital Trade Agreement, which we have settled, will be a pathfinder to an EU-ASEAN Digital Trade Agreement.

The final point I want to make is a shout-out to my friend from Cyprus. Cyprus is a very important humanitarian partner for Singapore. We have collaborated with Cyprus in delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza. I think this is a potential pathway for deeper collaboration with the EU based on their principles and on their humanitarian efforts.

Thank you.

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