Bloc seeks deeper trade ties with Asean

BANGKOK: Britain, New Zealand and the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) are seeking deeper trade ties with Asean, as the 10-member bloc holds its 35th Summit just outside Bangkok.

Britain’s Prince Andrew said in his keynote speech yesterday that the United Kingdom “will not be able to rely on our former ways of doing business” in the light of its looming departure from the European Union.

He was addressing the Asean Business and Investment Summit, an annual sideline event to the Asean Summit.

“This business summit as a part of Asean is an extremely important event for the UK because as we either prepare or are about to leave the European Union, our interconnectivity around the world is going to change,” said the Duke of York.

“We will have to think and act in an entrepreneurial way. We need to diversify our economies.”

He also urged governments to remove some barriers in international trade and enable businesses instead of over-regulating them.

The Brexit deadline was missed for the second time on Oct 31 as MPs failed to pass the new deal into law. The EU last week agreed to extend the deadline to Jan 31.

EAEU, an economic bloc comprising Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus, is also seeking more cooperation with Asean.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said as EAEU had signed free trade agreements (FTAs) with Vietnam in 2015 and with Singapore last month, it was now in talks with “other partners in Asean” about possible free trade deals too.

He also called for joint efforts with Asean to tackle monopolies by high-tech companies to allow a “healthy competition and introduction of new promising ideas”.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said there would be the first round of negotiations next year to upgrade the Asean-AustraliaNew Zealand FTA which entered into force in 2010.

She said her country was looking for more opportunities to work with Asean members, such as through scholarship offers and sharing of agricultural best practices.

Ardern urged deeper regional cooperation in the light of “political uncertainty and rising protectionism that poses challenges to new growth”.