(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 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 3^rd largest trade partner with 2-way trade and service value reaching 233 billion USD annually.