ASEAN-EU relations in the spotlight

11 May, 2011
Source: Finchannel

The FINANCIAL -- While most eyes are on China and India as the new economic powerhouses, South East Asia offers an increasingly attractive alternative for EU business.

Integration of the ASEAN countries (Myanmar, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) has accelerated recently, thus creating a market of nearly 600 million people and a GDP exceeding 1,000 billion Euro. As a result, European exports to and imports from ASEAN have grown dramatically over the last years: in 2010 ASEAN was the third biggest trading partner of the European Union after the USA and China, with a total of 175 billion Euro traded in goods and services.

Not surprisingly, the ASEAN region is therefore in the focus of European policy makers. As initial attempts of negotiating a region-to-region free trade agreement were put on hold in 2009, due to the significant regional disparities within ASEAN, the European Commission launched free trade negotiations with Malaysia and Singapore in 2010 and announced the launch of negotiations with Vietnam in 2011. Preparatory talks with Thailand are advancing, and the European Commission also signalled their openness to negotiate bilateral agreements to the remaining ASEAN countries.

Against this background, EUROCHAMBRES was highly committed to support the first ASEAN-EU Business Summit (AEBS), which was held on 5 May in Jakarta, Indonesia. Jointly organised by the European and ASEAN public and private sector, the AEBS brought together entrepreneurs, as well as public and private investors from both regions to address critical issues related to EU-ASEAN trade relations, while identifying new business and investment opportunities on both sides. President Alessandro Barberis addressed the Summit and was part of the business delegation which presented the recommendations developed during the AEBS to the ASEAN Economic Ministers on 6 May.

EUROCHAMBRES is also involved in setting up the first EU-ASEAN Business Centre (EABC) in Bangkok, Thailand. This Centre is co-financed by the European Commission, and managed by a consortium of ten European bilateral Chambers in Bangkok and three European business associations based in Brussels (EUROCHAMBRES, Digital Europe and Euratex). It aims at facilitating market access for European business in Thailand and to promote Thailand as a high potential trade and investment market for European businesses.

EABC will develop services which facilitate economic cooperation between EU and Thai companies, including seminars, flagship events and publications. This will be done in synergy with existing service providers, both in Thailand and in Europe. Moreover, EABC is to become the voice of European business in Thailand, addressing issues of market access and fair competition. The Centre is expected to be operational in July.