With populist movements and rising protectionism taking flight in Europe and the United States, traditional partnerships can no longer to be taken for granted.

Add to that forecasts of economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region while industrial countries remain stagnant or in decline, and you have the kind of conditions that should lead the EU to seek stronger ties with Asia. That’s the thesis of a new report by Bertelsmann, one of Germany’s largest private foundations.

CGTN’s Mariam Zaidi reports from Brussels.

Follow Mariam Zaidi on Twitter @zaidi_mariam

To discuss the EU pivot to Asia and the future relationship between the two continents:

• Xiankun Lu, adjunct professor of University of International Business and Economics of China and he served as a senior trade diplomat for China
• Shada Islam, policy director at Friends of Europe, an independent think tank
• Jacob Kirkegaard, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics
• Cora Jungbluth, project manager with the Bertelsmann Stiftung foundation

For more:

#Asia should play a central role in the EU's external economic policy, argues Cora Jungbluth https://t.co/tdbIa4t1Br #trade (jn)

— BertelsmannSt BRU (@BStBrussels) October 6, 2017

Trump&Brexit: Europe-Asia Economic Relations Under New Conditions https://t.co/xHYgrPZBDN via @GED_Tweet. Good article. ASEAN not mentioned.

— amsterdam_bill (@amsterdam_bill) November 2, 2017