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  1. Negotiations

EU-ASEAN

The European Union was planning on a bilateral trade agreement with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) for many years. On 4 May 2007, the two sides agreed to start negotiations.

The EU-ASEAN FTA is supposed to be a comprehensive agreement. While ASEAN states are hoping to gain additional market access in the EU, the agreement is expected to have a much bigger impact in strengthening business opportunities for European TNCs in the region.

The talks have moved slowly and it’s not clear if the final deal will take the form of separate agreements between the EU and individual ASEAN members, something the EU seems to prefer. This would allow European governments to avoid taking on any commitments that support the regime in Burma but also to deal with the economic heterogeneity among ASEAN members.

EU procedures require that all ASEAN countries sign a Partnership Cooperation Agreement, containing a commitment to human rights, as a prerequisite to an FTA. Indonesia has already concluded its PCA with the EU, Singapore and Thailand are in advanced stages of negotiations, and Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei are soon to begin. The Philippine government stated early on that it expects problems in negotiating a PCA, as the agreement apparently requires that the signatory state join the International Criminal Court.

Click here for the European Commission’s page on the EU-Indonesia FTA

last update: May 2012
photo: People’s Health Movement

EU, Vietnam to start free-trade talks
3-Mar-2010 WSJ
The European Union and Vietnam announced the start of free-trade negotiations Tuesday, signaling a major effort to move ahead in the race to secure new markets despite the failure of the Doha Round of global trade talks.
Issues reduced but RP-EU talks still unfinished
9-Feb-2010 BusinessWorld
Negotiators of the Partnership Cooperation Agreement, who met for a fourth time last week, had nothing to report about the controversial matter of human rights
Viet Nam, EU progress in co-operation negotiations
4-Feb-2010 Viet Nam News
Viet Nam and the European Union have fully agreed on two-thirds of the articles after the sixth round of negotiations on the Partnership and Co-operation Agreement, according to head of the European Commission Delegation in Viet Nam Sean Doyle.
EU keen on FTA negotiations with Vietnam
20-Jan-2010 VietNamNet
"We want it to start as soon as possible, even next month or in two months’ time if possible," Sean Doyle, ambassador and head of the Delegation of the European Commission to Vietnam, said
EU pushes bilateral trade pact
20-Jan-2010 BusinessWorld
"The Philippines has not so far signaled its readiness to engage in this way," EU Ambassador Alistair MacDonald said, referring to plans to forge bilateral trade pacts after attempts to broker a broader agreement with the 10-member ASEAN hit a roadblock early last year.
Mexico seeks Brazil free-trade accord by 2012, official says
23-Dec-2009 Bloomberg
Mexico’s government aims to sign a free-trade agreement with Brazil by the end of President Felipe Calderon’s administration in 2012, said Rogelio Granguillhome, head of economic relations at Mexico’s Foreign Ministry.
EU to launch FTA negotiations with individual ASEAN countries, beginning with Singapore
23-Dec-2009 EU
"While we don’t lose sight of our ultimate goal of achieving an agreement within a regional framework, I welcome today’s decision which will allow us to move forward and re-engage with this important region through negotiations with individual ASEAN member states," EU Trade Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said.
Singapore, EU agree to start FTA talks
23-Dec-2009 AFP
Singapore and the European Union have agreed to begin talks for a free trade agreement, "paving the way for an EU-ASEAN FTA."
Indonesian gov’t urged to follow up FTA with EU
9-Dec-2009 Xinhua
The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN) is urging the government to follow up the free trade agreement with the European Union as one of ways to expand market to the region.
EU wants to negotiate FTA with Vietnam
27-Nov-2009 Viet Nam Net
After failure in FTA negotiation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the last over one years, Schlegelmilch said that the EU wants to seek another approach before the Vietnam-EC Joint Committee’s meeting on November 26-27 in Hanoi.