EU's top negotiator to hold preferential trade talks with ASEAN
EU's top negotiator to hold preferential trade talks with ASEAN
Associated Press, Singapore
The European Union's top trade negotiator will hold talks with 10 Southeast Asian nations in Laos next month as the two trading blocs look toward a free trade agreement, the ASEAN secretary general said Saturday.
"(Negotiator) Pascal Lamy will be in Luang Prabang, Laos. The European Union is open to the idea of a preferential trade agreement with ASEAN countries," said Ong Keng Yong at a talk hosted by a non-governmental think tank here.
ASEAN Economic Ministers will meet in Luang Prabang on Apr. 2 for three days to discuss further economic integration and to examine the regional economic impact of the war in Iraq.
Ong said the EU's immediate agenda was to push forward the Doha round of trade liberalization under the World Trade Organization, but Lamy's presence in Laos means that ASEAN is still relevant in the union's eyes.
"Lamy will be here to say that just because it is pushing Doha forward, it does not mean that it isn't interested in ASEAN," said Ong.
In 2001, the EU was ASEAN's second largest export market and third largest trade partner after the United States and Japan.
EU exports to ASEAN totaled 42.2 billion euros (US$ 45.8 billion) and its imports 65.7 billion euros ($71.3 billion), making for a two-way trade total of 107.9 billion euros ($117.1 billion).
Ong did not say whether Myanmar, an ASEAN member since 1997 and the subject of EU sanctions because of alleged human rights violations, would be on the Luang Prabang agenda.
He said that a proposed text for a trade accord with the U.S. is on the agenda for the grouping this year. He said the grouping is looking to ink deals with China, Japan and India soon.
"We are like a bride courted by all of them. Negotiations are on the 'fast-track' with India," he said, adding that agreement could be signed before the ones with China and Japan.
Singapore-born Ong, the former press secretary to Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, said that all ASEAN members have agreed to further intra-regional liberalization, but the implementation is a problem.