03/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - Negotiations ahead for investment agreement. Meeting Athens on 28 February, the European trade ministers agreed on a very tight working timetable to make it possible for negotiations for an agreement between the EU and Burma on the protection of investments to be launched when Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht visits the country in mid-March. The Greek Minister and President of the Council, Notis Mitarachi, explained after the meeting that they had agreed that investment relations with Myanmar are on a new and promising path, with many opportunities and challenges to come for both sides. Burma/Myanmar regained its preferential access to the European market in July 2013 and it still enjoys these trade preferences in the framework of the new GSP, which entered into force in early 2014 under the “Everything but Arms” initiative for the least-developed countries. Burmese exports to the EU, which consist mainly of clothes, were worth €164 million in 2012, or 3% of the country's total exports. (EH)