Brussels, 07/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - According to comments reported on Wednesday by the Philippine press, and taken up by the Chinese agency, Xinhua, the president of the Philippines, Gloria Arroyo, said she was confident that the bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) between the Union and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN - Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) will be concluded during the ASEAN summit in November this year. “We are hoping an agreement can be signed in November in Singapore”, the president-in-office of ASEAN said, currently visiting Portugal, which is to hold the presidency of the Council of the Union during the second half of 2007. A “timely” visit, therefore, according to Ms Arroyo, who probably had to appeal to Portugal's prime minister, José Socrates, in favour of a rapid conclusion to the bilateral EU/ASEAN talks.
The time expected by the Philippine president is nonetheless far shorter than the three or four years estimated by the Commission. The latter considers that the thorny issue of Burma/Myanmar, with which the Union does not wish to negotiate given the repeated human rights violations by the Burmese military junta, should delay talks on a very complex agreement. Although Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson discussed matters in early May in Brunei with his ASEAN counterparts on a compromise solution that would allow talks for an FTA to begin (EUROPE 9420), the real architecture for the future agreement still remains mystifying. His Asian partners refuse to rule out one of the ASEAN member nations from the talks, and so Mr Mandelson has agreed that ten members of the Asian bloc will take part in the negotiations. However, honouring the desires expressed by the EU27, he warned that he would not sign an agreement in which Burma/Myanmar is associated. Speaking before the members of the European Parliament's committee on international trade (INTA), the Commission confirmed on Tuesday that it is “seeking to create an ASEAN structure (Ed.: for holding talks) in which Burma/Myanmar would not be a part”. Cambodia and Laos should not be part of this structure either as, by their status as “less developed countries” (LDC) (Burma/Myanmar also has that status), they enjoy a special regime. Under the “Everything but Arms” initiative, these countries already benefit from duty- and quota-free access to the Community market for their exports. Also, in the context of the global WTO agreement concluding the Doha Round, they will be exempted from customs duty reduction (there is talk of a “free” round for LDCs). Cambodia and Laos should receive differentiated treatment under the EU/ASEAN bilateral agreement, leaving them time to develop their capacities before a more advanced stage of liberalisation. (eh)