ASEAN economic ministers to push for FTA with Australia, New Zealand

ASEAN economic ministers to push for FTA with Australia, New Zealand

Agence France-Presse, Singapore

Southeast Asia's economic ministers said on Wednesday they would urge their leaders to finally broker a free trade agreement with Australia and New Zealand.

The economics ministers, meeting for one day here, will also recommend the leaders of Australia and New Zealand attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) annual summit in Laos this year.

"The economics ministers will be recommending to ASEAN leaders that we should work on the launch of a free trade agreement with Australia and New Zealand," Singapore Trade Minister George Yeo told reporters after the meeting.

The declaration from the economics ministers that they are willing to embrace Australia and New Zealand signals a potential breakthrough for the two nations after years of trying to forge closer trade links with the region.

Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong has been a strong advocate of including Australia and New Zealand in ASEAN's free trade plans.

But he acknowledged publicly last year that there were some within ASEAN who believed that "Australians are not regarded as indigenous Asians", and therefore did not want close economic ties with Australia.

Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad was one fierce opponent of Australia forging close political and economic ties with ASEAN, and his step-down from power last year may have been a significant factor in the regional grouping's new-found inclusiveness.

ASEAN, which hopes to have its own FTA beginning 2010 and a European-style single market 10 years later, currently only has free-trade plans with China, South Korea and India.