Troubled EU eyes ASEAN boost

Tuesday, 3 April 2012 01:38 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Uditha Jayasinghe in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

An economically struggling European Union (EU) is keen to strengthen ties with ASEAN to formulate a rebound and encouraged members to open their trade to foreign investors, a top official said here on Monday.

ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan told media that ASEAN countries need to work together to strengthen economic ties with other regional bodies such as the EU.

His comments come after discussions with a key EU trade delegation during the 20th ASEAN Summit that strove to put Europe at the centre of ASEAN growth.

“Despite the economic uncertainty experienced globally, the EU has been a very important economic partner and is ASEAN’s second-largest trading partner after China,” he said.

He was referring to trade with the EU that reached US$ 208 billion in 2010, accounting for 10.2 percent of ASEAN’s total trade that year.

In terms of investment, Surin said, the EU had been ASEAN’s largest investor, pouring around US$ 17 billion into the region in 2010, covering more than 23 per cent of total Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said on Sunday that Europe was keen to work with ASEAN members as 90 per cent of growth would happen outside his own region.

“A huge proportion of that growth will happen in the ASEAN region. Far from seeing this as a threat, we Europeans see this stunning growth in Asia as part of the solution to our economic challenge,” he emphasised, adding that steps have been taken to formulate free trade agreements with Singapore, Malaysia and Viet Nam.

Gucht said that the EU would seek further free-trade agreements with individual ASEAN countries as part of its efforts to endorse a regional free-trade pact, which would not only remove a full range of tariffs that impede the flow of goods, services and investment, but also address other nontariff barriers within a legally binding framework.

Around 300 business leaders and public policymakers from ASEAN and Europe have gathered at the summit to discuss vital issues pertaining to both regions’ trade relations, while also identifying new business and investment opportunities.