EU and Asian nations have postponed a decision on whether to admit Burma into their dialogue forum after a European bid to set political conditions for Yangon's military junta was roundly rejected.
By punting the thorny issue to a meeting of senior officials due in about six weeks, the two continents averted a showdown and gave Burma more time to relax its clampdown on the opposition party of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
"Let's work together to see...further progress and then senior officials can report back to us," the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen said after talks in Straffan, Co Kildare with counterparts from the European Union, seven members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China, Japan and South Korea. "So it's a positive approach rather than emphasising the differences that we have," he said.
The Asian countries say Burma should be admitted along with Cambodia and Laos into the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) when the EU brings its 10 new member states into the club on May 1st.
But Britain, Burma's former colonial power, and the Netherlands had pressed hard for Yangon to be kept out of the six-year-old forum because of the junta's repression of political opponents, and in particular Suu Kyi's house arrest.
The EU maintains an arms embargo on Burma and targets key junta officials through an asset freeze and visa ban.
Despite resistance from some EU states, including France, the bloc agreed yesterday to lay down conditions. These included the Nobel peace laureate's release and the participation of her opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) in talks on a new constitution due to start on May 17th.
But there was a cool reception for the EU demands from the Asian foreign ministers, whose governments are traditionally averse to exerting public pressure on third countries.
Yangon agreed yesterday to let the NLD reopen its headquarters, a move Asian ministers said should be welcomed by the international community to encourage further democratisation.
ASEM, seen as a valuable forum for cooperation on terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, immigration, organised crime and regional issues such as the tensions on the Korean peninsula, is due to hold a summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, next October.
The ASEM ministers drew up a declaration affirming their commitment to multilateralism to resolve international disputes and promote the positive aspects of globalisation.
They agreed to coordinate efforts to strengthen the role of the United Nations in conflict prevention and crisis management, promote non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and bolster the role of the World Trade Organisation.