EU officials to discuss Asian trade deal with Philippines
Tuesday September 12nd, 2006
EU Officials To Discuss Asian Trade Deal With Philippines
By Filipe Rufino and Juliane von Reppert-Bismarck, Dow Jones Newswires
BRUSSELS -(Dow Jones)- European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European trade chief Peter Mandelson will discuss plans Tuesday with Philippine officials for an ambitious trade agreement between the European Union and a group of Southeast Asian countries, E.U. officials said.
The E.U. executive wants to seal a regional trade deal with countries including the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. The Philippines currently chairs the group, which is known as the Association of South East Asian Nations.
If successful, a deal would go some way toward filling the void left since global trade talks collapsed this summer. Europe is the last in a series of economic powers to be wooing the region and its burgeoning markets. China, Korea and the U.S. have all signed trade agreements with the region. Japan and India are in talks too.
Brussels officials hope a deal will secure contracts for European car makers and allow computer companies to tap the technology-proficient area. It would also force the region to adopt more uniform regulation, making it easier for European companies to ply their trade. A deal would create one of the world’s largest free trade areas, encompassing approximately one billion consumers.
Talks for such a deal have yet to be announced officially. Mandelson wants European governments to hand him a negotiating mandate by the end of the year, and to start negotiations in early 2007. He has also publicly endorsed a joint feasibility study during a trip to Southeast Asia in May, saying it sets out "a very convincing case" for both parts.
Business interest in opening trade talks is strong. But talks are likely to stir human rights questions about Burma. Human rights concerns have held up trade talks in the past, most notably in an agreement with Europe’s former colonies in Africa and the Caribbean. ASEAN also includes Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Burma.
In separate meetings with their counterparts Tuesday, Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Secretary of Trade and Industry Peter Favila were also expected to call for more European investment into their country, an E.U. official said. According to U.N. statistics, only 2% of European investment into South East Asia is channeled into the 86 million-strong Philippine population.
European investors have been slow to return to the Philippines since Asia’s 1999 financial crisis. Many fear the country’s unpredictable regulatory environment and the political situation, according to the E.U. official.
The Philippine government believes the country has a unique potential to become "the India of Southeast Asia," due to the high level of English proficiency of the working force and the quality of its universities.
