The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), led by its President, Guy Verhofstadt is hosting today a delegation of members of parliament and party leaders from ten Asian countries for a two day meeting on the subject of “Trade: From Patronage to Partnership”. The delegates from the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) are present for the 5th ALDE-CALD Summit, a biennial meeting between European and Asian liberals, which was first established ten years ago. The last ALDE-CALD meeting was organized in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2010.

Participants include Cecilia Malmstrom, European Commissioner for Home Affairs; Hans van Baalen, MEP, President of Liberal International and Niccolo Rinaldi, MEP, Rapporteur for the EU - Malaysia FTA and for the FTA EU-India FTA (Safeguard Clause). Sir Graham Watson, MEP, President of the ELDR Party, will also deliver the closing keynote address on “Chinese and Indian Dominance in Asia?”.

Among the Asian participants are Sam Rainsy, MP, Chairperson of CALD and Leader of the Opposition in Cambodia and Win Htein, a newly elected MP of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy in Burma.

Special session topics deal with “EU-Asia Trade Relations: Getting Through the Crisis”, “Sustainable Development Clauses in Trade Agreements: Effective Against Possible Threats to Democracy”; and “Multilateralism versus Bilateralism in International Trade”.