ASEAN@50 - Regional Programme Australia and the Pacific
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Country reports
ASEAN@50
by
Dr. Frederick Kliem
Celebrating five decades of regional stability
In 1984, then French President Mitterrand and German Chancellor Kohl held hands on the World War I battlefields of Verdun. This great symbol of reconciliation and benevolence between two former adversaries highlighted a new found European friendship; a new peaceful European order, which culminated in the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize for the common project, the European Union (EU). The European integration process is without a doubt one of the great achievements of the 20th century; but it is not the only one.
