EU, ASEAN to put free-trade pact back on agenda

MANILA: The EU and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) said on Friday the two blocs would try to revive plans for a free-trade agreement (FTA) between them, as European countries look to tap the region’s strong growth.

The EU and 10-nation ASEAN launched talks toward a pact in 2007 but abandoned the process two years later, with the EU opting instead to conduct bilateral negotiations with individual states.

Those talks have had mixed success, with deals so far agreed only with Singapore and most recently, Vietnam, but yet to be implemented.

EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said it was decided among the EU and senior ASEAN officials on Friday to establish a framework for talks to restart, but there was so far no targeted time- frame.

“We believe it is important to connect two growing markets and to take away as many obstacles to trade,” she told reporters in Manila.

“Having a region-to-region agreement between EU and ASEAN is a long-term goal we have been discussing for many years. We are now taking steps toward this.”

A trade deal with ASEAN would connect the EU to the world’s seventh-largest market, and one with strong consumer and middle-class expansion, particularly in Vietnam and the Philippines, which are among the world’s best-performing economies.

The ASEAN region has a combined 622 million people and economy of $2.6 trillion and is driven largely by consumption, exports and manufacturing, with Europe a key importer of goods.