EU, ASEAN back new global trading regime under WTO

EU, ASEAN back new global trading regime under WTO

Jitendra Joshi, Agence France-Presse, Brussels

The European Union and Southeast Asia Tuesday held out the
prospect of a trade pact between their regions, but said the
priority for now should be to secure a new global regime via the
World Trade Organization.

At a two-day meeting here, foreign ministers of the EU and the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) backed the WTO's
Doha round of negotiations aimed at freeing up world trade.

They discussed "the important role of the multilateral trading
system embodied by the WTO in contributing to world economic
growth and reinforcing international economic relations", a joint
statement said.

The two sides agreed to work together on the Doha objectives
of benefiting developing nations in areas such as market access,
and also supported the WTO membership bids of ASEAN members
Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

ASEAN Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong said a long-term aim for
his region was to secure a free-trade agreement (FTA) with the
EU.

"The ASEAN-EU FTA is an ideal. We will look towards that," the
Singaporean official told a news conference.

"But at the moment, we should look towards the conclusion of
the Doha round and get the best benefits and best understanding
for every country," Ong said.

"The ministers on both sides were able to appreciate that the
priority today, at this moment, is to get the best out of the
Doha round."

After losing out in recent years to the cheaper labor markets
of China, ASEAN in November signed a deal with the communist
giant to create the world's biggest FTA by 2015, embracing 1.7
billion people.

ASEAN is also in talks to forge a similar deal with Japan.

EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten said Europe
and Southeast Asia already had a successful trading partnership,
and noted that after the EU welcomes 10 more members next year,
both it and ASEAN will be home to more than 500 million people.

"But we are concerned that we should be able to encourage more
European investment in ASEAN and I think that the more that it's
possible for ASEAN to promote economic integration, the more
likely it is that we'll see success in attracting investors," he
said.

"Our priority is a successful outcome to the Doha development
round," Patten added.

"But we are prepared for bloc-to-bloc discussions on trade
and, I hope after a successful Doha round, to negotiate a
preferential trade regime between the European Union and the
ASEAN countries."

Such a regime would depend on ASEAN's ability to bring down
non-tariff barriers such as different regulations and customs
rules between its member states, Patten said.

The European Commission -- the EU's executive arm -- is
formulating a new strategy towards southeast Asia due for release
in the spring to update a relationship that is based on a
bilateral accord signed in 1980.

Since then, both the EU and ASEAN have been transformed
through the addition of new members and a vastly changed world
picture for trade.

The EU now has a common market between its members, which the
ASEAN chief acknowledged could teach his region much as it gropes
towards its own free-trade area by 2020.

"What came across is the idea that we should look at Southeast
Asia as one single market of 500 million-plus people, and the EU
side explained, hey, we have done this single market thing for a
long time and maybe we have some experiences that we can share,"
Ong told AFP.

In 2001, the EU was ASEAN's second-largest export market and
third-largest trading partner after the United States and Japan.

ASEAN exports to the EU were estimated at 65.7 billion euros
(US$70 billion), while the region's imports from the EU were
valued at 42.2 billion euros, according to European Commission
figures.