Dr Chee Soon Juan has been invited to attend a conference in the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium organized the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).
Entitled Common challenges for Liberals and Democrats in Asia and Europe, the 3-day conference will be held from 10-12 November 2004. Dr Chee will represent the SDP and will be part of a delegation of the Council for Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD) of which the Singapore Democrats is a member-party.
The conference will discuss recent political, economic and social trends in Asia and Europe, globalization issues, multilateral cooperation as well as the enhancement of cooperation between Liberals and Democrats from Europe and Asia.
CALD was founded in 1993 in order to encourage common understanding of the basic principles of liberal democracy and to address problems of human rights and democracy in Asia.
ALDE in the European Parliament brings together politicians from the European Liberal and Democratic traditions. It is committed to free people and strong communities bound by the principle of respect for diversity and the legal guarantee of political and civil rights. It works for open and dynamic economies built around free markets, and accountable and democratic government at every level in Europe.
Dr Chee will present a paper on Multilateral Cooperation in Asia and Europe in which he will highlight the need for European lawmakers to adopt a wholistic approach towards engaging their Asian counterparts, that is, not only must Europe insist of free trade between the two regions but that free trade must be accompanied by free societies where citizens have the right to transparent and accountable governments.