F

rance has called for far-reaching cooperation between regions to shape a multipolar world, urging that ASEAN and the European Union (EU) could play a bigger role as stabilizers in global efforts to create peace and prosperity.

 '€œWhat we should and what we want to build is an organized multi-polar world, in which the EU [European Union] and the ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] play stabilizing roles,'€ visiting French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in his public address on French policy toward Asia at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta on Friday.

Fabius deemed ASEAN'€”which accounts for more than 600 million inhabitants or one 10th of the global population'€”relied on remarkable dynamism, while the EU, with its more than 500 million inhabitants, was the world'€™s leading commercial power.

'€œTaken separately, these two poles count for a lot. United, they will be decisive,'€ he said.

He revealed that he had proposed two major focuses to ASEAN Secretary-General Le Luong Minh to strengthen the partnership between France, Europe and ASEAN, including by supporting a peaceful solution in regional disputes as he was concerned about existing tensions in the region, including the South China Sea dispute.

'€œIt is not France'€™s place to arbitrate on territorial disputes between regional countries but we can help seek peaceful solutions in line with international law,'€ he said. '€œFrance is encouraging the establishment by ASEAN and China of Code of Conduct for the South China Sea.'€

His speech also revealed the importance of enhancing ties with other Asian countries.

For the last year, he said, the French administration had developed ties with the whole of Asia, not only with giants China and India, following four visits to the region by Francois Hollande since he took office last year.

'€œOur ambition is to strengthen ties with these two countries and develop in parallel our ties with the whole area,'€ Fabius said.

Fabius was in Indonesia for a three-day official visit that started on Wednesday aimed at boosting strategic partnership between the two countries.

The visit follows a trip by Foreign Trade Minister Nicole Bricq two months ago that aimed to seek new economic partnerships and explore untapped opportunities in Indonesia.

For the French, Fabius said, Indonesia was '€œnaturally a leading partner'€.

Yet, he added, relations between the two countries have yet to reach their full potential after Indonesia and France signed a Strategic Partnership in 2011.

'€œIt now needs to be implemented in every field; that is one of my priorities,'€ he said.

Bilateral trade between the two countries reached US$3 billion in 2011 and 2012.