EU puts on hold free-trade deal with ASEAN bloc
ABS - CBN News, Philippines
EU puts on hold free-trade deal with ASEAN bloc
By LAWRENCE AGCAOILI
TODAY Reporter
14 September 2004
The proposed free-trade agreement (FTA) between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the European Union (EU) have temporarily been placed on the back burner after European countries have made it clear that they would father pursue a multilateral trade scheme under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Trade Secretary Cesar Purisima told reporters that EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy made it clear during the ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) meeting held early this month in Jakarta, Indonesia, that the 25-member European trading bloc prefers the multilateral arrangement under the WTO to an FTA.
“Their approach is to really focus on WTO. For ASEAN, we have a treaty arrangement under the Trans Regional EU-ASEAN Trade Initiative (TREATI), which is not a substitute for a free-trade agreement but in preparation for an FTA in the future,” Purisima explained.
During the 5th AEM-EU consultations in Indonesia, the DTI chief said Lamy announced that the policy of EU right now is to pursue FTAs with any region or country that was started before the WTO meeting in Seattle in 1999.
The TREATI is the framework for dialogue and regulatory cooperation developed to enhance EU trade relations with the ASEAN. Priority areas under this initiative are trade facilitation; investment facilitation and promotion; sanitary and phytosanitary standards; industrial product standards; tourism; trade and the environment; forestry products; and intellectual property rights.
Last year, bilateral ASEAN-EU trade declined slightly by 3.3 percent to 104.7 billion euros compared with 2002. However, EU-ASEAN trade increased by 3.3 percent in the first quarter of the year.
Purisima pointed out that the ASEAN considers the EU as a major market with a population of 450 million and a combined economy as measured by gross domestic product of 9.74 trillion euros.
The DTI chief said areas for possible cooperation under an FTA in the future include standards and conformity assessment; intellectual property rights; customs facilitation; and cooperation in the area of energy.
Foreign direct investment inflows into the ASEAN last year jumped 48 percent to 16.8 billion euros, of which 35 percent or 5.9 billion euros came from EU members.
Besides the EU, the 10-strong ASEAN is also pursuing FTA negotiations with China, Japan and India.
