Brussels, 20/11/2007 (Agence Europe) - The bilateral free-trade agreement (FTA) currently being negotiated between the EU and the 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN: Brunei, Burma/Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) will be one of the central issues on the agenda of the EU-ASEAN summit, to be held in Singapore on 21-22 November. The European delegation, led by Portuguese Prime Minister and President-in-exercise of the European Council, José Socrates, and President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, will take the opportunity of this summit, which commemorates the 30th anniversary of relations with ASEAN, to build up the pressure slightly on the Asian partners. Peter Mandelson will try to make progress on the FTAs - talks on which have remained stormy since their formal launch last May, amongst other reasons because the definitive format is still unclear. The trade commissioner will reiterate the EU's demands on the structure of negotiations - the EU27 have refused to negotiate with Burma/Myanmar due to the repeated violations of human rights by the Burmese military junta and the worsening political situation since last September - but also on the contents of the agreement. The EU is targeting a new-generation FTA, which covers not just goods and services, but also the Singapore subjects (investment, public procurement contracts and competition), and which also attacks non-tariff barriers. It also hopes to exclude three least-developed countries of the Asian bloc (Burma/Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos) from the talks. Early in May, the trade commissioner agreed with the ASEAN trade ministers on compromise wording allowing negotiations to kick off (EUROPE 9420 and 9441). The joint negotiation committee, which was set up last May to seek solutions, held an unsuccessful meeting in July and then again in October, and is to meet once more in early 2008. The major problem with the negotiations for a trade agreement between the EU and its Asian partner lies mainly in the fact that the ASEAN acts as a bloc and insists on negotiating on the basis of all 10 members. Last September, the Commission also highlighted the ambivalent attitude of the ASEAN countries, who are also working to conclude FTAs with other partners, such as Australia, China, South Korea and India.
On commercial matters, it is worth adding that according to latest figures published by Eurostat for between 2000 and 2006, the exports of goods from the EU27 to the 10 countries of ASEAN rose from €42 to 49 billion; its imports also rose, from €75 to 79 billion. In total, the trade balance deficit of the EU with the ASEAN fell from €34 to 29 billion in 2006, 15% of the total commercial deficit of the EU25. Germany (€14.5 billion), France (€6.8 billion) and the United Kingdom (€6.5 billion) are the main exporters to the ASEAN, the Netherlands, (€16.2 billion), the United Kingdom (€15.3 billion) and Germany (€14.8 billion) being the main importers from the Southeast Asian bloc. Singapore (€19.9 billion), Malaysia (€10.3 billion) and Thailand (€7.3 billion) are the main destinations for Community exports. With total imports standing at €19.3 billion, €17.9 billion and €14.7 billion respectively, these three countries are also the main sources of ASEAN imports to the EU. Bilateral trade is dominated by manufactured products, which contributed nearly 85% of total imports and exports in 2006. Accordingly, the deficit of €22 billion recorded for manufactured products made up three quarters of the deficit of the EU with the Asian bloc. Machines and vehicles accounted for more than half of EU exports to the ASEAN in 2006, whilst the other manufactured products represented nearly 20%. These two groups of products account respectively for half and a quarter of imports.
At political level, the EU is to keep up the pressure on the countries of the ASEAN, to urge them to show greater stringency towards their Burmese partner. It is also set to welcome the adoption, by the leaders of the Southeast Asian zone, at their summit meeting on 20 November, of an ASEAN Charter, which aims to provide the area with more efficient structures to reinforce its regional integration in the hope of becoming a Community by 2015. Lastly, the work of the Singapore summit is to lead to the adoption of a global action plan to reinforce cooperation in the medium term (2007-2012) between the EU and the ASEAN in five fields: (1) politics and security; (2) economy/trade/investment; (3) energy security and climate change; (4) education, exchange between people, health, disaster management, science and technology; (5) development cooperation. Two weeks ahead of the UN conference on climate change to be held in Bali (3-14 December), the EU27 will attempt to rally countries such as China, which fear that the fight against global warming will hinder their growth, to their fight for an ambitious international post-Kyoto agreement. The EU is to underline its commitment to cooperate with the ASEAN countries in order to promote development and the transfer and distribution of technology to increase the capacity of the Southeast Asian countries to respond to the challenge of climate change. (E.H.)