In April 2021, the Council of the EU adopted conclusions on an ‘EU Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo- Pacific’. This was seen as an important step in the development of an EU strategic approach towards the region, which would then be further unpacked through the September 2021 Joint Communication on the EU’s Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific by the European Commission and the High Representative.
Against this backdrop, the Indo-Pacific Futures Platform (INFORM) project was launched in April 2021 to feed into the EU’s strategic reflection on the Indo-Pacific. Concretely, INFORM seeks to (a) identify and analyse sources of change in the Indo-Pacific region with a view to gaining a better sense of their possible implications for the EU and (b) to provide foresight to inform policy planning within the EU. To further those objectives, INFORM brings together experts and officials from the EU and partner countries in the Indo-pacific to develop a joint analytical picture of the region.
During phase I (April-November 2021), the INFORM team engaged in extensive consultations with EEAS, experts from across Europe and the Indo-Pacific, as well as officials from EU partner countries in the region, to identify ‘megatrends’ that are likely to shape the region’s evolution out to 2030. For its phase II (December 2021-December 2022), INFORM shall zoom in on two EU priority areas for the Indo-Pacific (security and defense; digital governance and technologies), and produce two in-depth foresight analyses outlining relevant trends in each priority area, as well as policy recommendations for the EU.
This second phase of INFORM will kick off with a private discussion on 12 January 2022 (held digitally). The purpose of this discussion will be to gather views from key regional partners on the EU’s potential role in the Indo-Pacific in the area of security and defense.
Please note that this a closed-door session, by invite only.
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