More than half the world’s population lives in countries around the Indian Ocean and the Pacific. The region now accounts for almost half of global GDP and is gaining in economic and political importance.

In recent decades, countries like Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam have seen rapid economic growth: At the same time, the strategic competition in the region is increasing. The Indo-Pacific is becoming key to shaping the international order in the 21^st century.

ASEAN lies at the very center of the region. Its relations to both Germany and the EU are growing ever closer. Hopefully, we will be able to form a strategic partnership by the end of 2020.

Shifting geopolitical power structures in the Indo-Pacific have a direct impact on Germany and the EU at large: Our economies are closely connected through global supply chains. Major trading routes pass through the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea and the Pacific. If conflicts in the region arose, it would have immediate repercussions for us in Europe and Germany.

Open markets and free trade are crucial for Germany as a trading nation. The share of the broader region, including South and East Asia, in Germany’s trade balance has risen steadily in recent decades and now amounts to over 20 percent of our total trade in goods, or just under 420 billion euros (2019).

But rapid economic growth in the Indo-Pacific region also brings about rising greenhouse gas emissions as a challenge for the global climate and our planet’s ecosystem. In the interest of future generations, our goal must be to ensure environmentally friendly and socially compatible growth in the Indo-Pacific region.

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