At the 14th Foreign Ministers' Meeting of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) forum in Spain, foreign ministers from EU member states and 21 Asian and Pacific nations met to discuss "effective multilateralism." 

The two-day meeting, which wrapped up on Monday, was chaired by the EU's high representative Josep Borrell. He held bilateral meetings with visiting foreign ministers during the roundtable discussions, including Wang Yi of China, Toshimitsu Motegi of Japan and Kang Kyung-Wha of the Republic of Korea. 

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Multilateralism is key to addressing challenges

In his final statement at the meeting, Borrell highlighted the agreement to remain within the rules-based international order, with both UN law and the World Trade Organization's trading system at its core – on all Asia-EU future relations. 

Global challenges such as climate change, sustainable development and gender equality were also raised at the meeting. 

Ministers agreed on the need for multilateralism and cooperation on these issues, and "called for accelerated action to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," according to Borrell.

Pressing regional issues were also raised at ASEM 2019. 

A permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula, for example, and the future relations between Myanmar and Bangladesh – following the crisis in Rakhine State that forced nearly three-quarters of a million Rohingya Muslims from their homes – were discussed as key areas of importance. 

Elsewhere, ministers agreed to ramp up cooperation on digital connectivity. 

"At a time when digitalization is transforming every aspect of our economies and societies... data is increasingly becoming an important source of economic growth and its effective use should contribute to social wellbeing," Borrell said. "Ministers pledged to enhance cooperation to promote data security and data free-flow with trust, respecting applicable domestic and international legal frameworks for privacy and data protection."