13/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - Council of EU go-ahead imminent on launching free trade negotiations. On Wednesday, 13 July, the Committee of Permanent Representatives to the EU (COREPER) gave their approval to a decision by the Council of Ministers of the EU to give the go-ahead to the launch of free trade negotiations between the EU and Indonesia. The Council could give its formal approval during the next meeting of EU Foreign Affairs Ministers on Monday, 18 July, a Community source informed us. Indonesia would become the seventh Association of South Eastern Asian Nation (ASEAN) countries to be involved in a trade negotiating process of the EU. It would follow Singapore and Vietnam (free trade agreements concluded), Malaysia and Thailand (talk still pending), the Philippines (ongoing talks) and Burma/Myanmar (ongoing negotiations for an investment agreement). The EU and Indonesia signed a partnership and cooperation agreement in November 2009. Numerous contacts between the two parties have taken place since 2011 in an effort to negotiate a comprehensive economic partnership agreement. (EH)