The 24th ASEAN-EU Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) Meeting, held on 2 March 2017, was co-chaired by H.E. Ms. Busadee Santipitaks, Permanent Representative of Thailand to ASEAN, Country Coordinator for ASEAN-European Union (EU) Dialogue Relations, and Mr. David Daly, Head of the South-East Asia Division of the European External Action Service, together with Mr. Jorge de la Caballeria, Head of Unit of Development Coordination South and South East Asia of the European Commission Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development. The Meeting was opened by H.E. Ms. Busadee Santipitaks, and H.E. Mr. Francisco Fontan, Ambassador of the EU to ASEAN and attended by members of the Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN, officials from the ASEAN Secretariat and the EU, as well as delegations of ASEAN Missions and EU Mission in Jakarta.
The EU and ASEAN marked the beginning of a year dedicated to the 40th anniversary of their dialogue relations with the start of new cooperation programmes and a youth photo exhibition. The event highlighted the recent signature of two new EU-ASEAN programmes on sustainable use of peatlands and haze mitigation, as well as biodiversity conservation in ASEAN. At the same occasion, an award was handed over to the Indonesian winner of an EU-ASEAN Youth Photo Competition.