Brussels, 11/03/2013 (Agence Europe) - Despite the growing number of bilateral agreements between the EU27 and Asian countries, the EU and ASEAN would still like to conclude an agreement between their respective two blocks.
Meeting up for a ministerial meeting on 8 March in Hanoi, the EU and ASEAN countries (Burma/Myanmar, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening their economic and trade cooperation, including the possibility of resuming the free trade negotiations between the two blocks that were interrupted in 2009. They hope to resume their negotiations once integration of the Southeast Asian countries within the ASEAN economic community is completed by 2015.
Negotiations between the two blocks were launched in 2007 by the current trade commissioner Karel De Gucht's predecessor, Peter Mandelson. Negotiations, however, at the time had two major stumbling blocks to contend with: firstly, the heterogeneous nature of the Southeast Asian block in terms of economic development, which de facto excluded negotiations with Burma/Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos, as Least Developed Countries (LDCs) benefiting from the Everything but Arms initiative under the EU's generalised preferences; and, secondly, the political situation in Burma, which at the time was under the yoke of the military junta.
After the freezing of block-to-block negotiations in 2009, the EU and the most dynamic economies from this region decided to negotiate individual free trade agreements. The EU had already concluded an agreement with Singapore at the end of 2012 and was pursuing his negotiations with Malaysia and Vietnam. It also launched talks with Thailand. Negotiations are also being examined with Indonesia and the Philippines. The EU gave its support to the recent accession of Laos to the WTO and has rewarded Burma for its political reforms by removing all its economic sanctions, except the embargo on weapons.
On Friday, De Gucht and his counterparts from the ASEAN organisation agreed to examine the possibility of resuming negotiations between the two regions in 2016, at the same time as the ongoing negotiations for bilateral agreements between the block and individual countries. The commissioner reaffirmed that “our ultimate goal remains a region to region agreement with ASEAN as a whole”. Such an agreement is expected to cover goods and services and would include nontariff barriers, investment, public markets and intellectual property.
Despite the global economic slowdown, trade between the EU and ASEAN increased significantly to reach the figure of $235 billion in 2011, a rise of 12%, compared to figures for 2010. The EU is the Asian block's third biggest trading partner, after China and Japan. The EU remains the biggest investor in the region by far, with $18.2 billion in DFI in 2011. (EH/trans/fl)