EU aims to strike FTA with ASEAN

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(VOVworld)-European Union Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said that the EU wants to begin negotiations on a free trade agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations

(VOVworld)-European Union Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said that the EU wants to begin negotiations on a free trade agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The trade official’s comments came at a business summit between EU and Asian officials in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Sunday.

EU aims to strike FTA with ASEAN - ảnh 1
EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht (r) in talks with ASEAN  Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan (c) and Cambodian Deputy PM Cham Prasidh (Source: Reuters)


Mr. De Gucht urged closer economic ties between the 2 sides and asked the delegates to make concrete progress on FTA negotiations. He said the EU will soon start negotiations on a bilateral trade deal with Vietnam. The EU has already kicked off discussions with Singapore and Malaysia but De Gucht says the goal is to strike a free trade agreement with the ASEAN bloc as a whole. ASEAN is currently the EU’s 3rd largest trade partner with 2-way trade and service value reaching 233 billion USD annually.

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