EU to speed up trade talks with ASEAN
Jakarta Post | 14 April 2008
EU to speed up trade talks with ASEAN
Novia D. Rulistia
A top EU trade officer is in town to try and speed up negotiations for a free trade agreement between the EU and ASEAN — a process he says has been "moving relatively slowly".
Karl Falkenberg, the European Commission’s deputy director general for trade, said negotiations had made little progress since talks began in May 2007.
"It’s important for us to know where the individual ASEAN members are at.
"We’ve set the rather ambitious target of completing negotiations in about a year or a year and a half — let’s say by the end of 2009, we should be able to achieve some kind of outcome," Falkenberg said in an interview Thursday.
Falkenberg came to Indonesia to meet with Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu to discuss her assessment of free trade and to understand to what extent ASEAN wants to negotiate as a group.
"We want to understand where in this process Indonesia sees its role and interests," he said.
He said Europe was interested in moving the talks forward rapidly and comprehensively.
Falkenberg will hold similar talks with trade ministers from Brunei Darussalam and the Philippines.
The ASEAN member countries are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
With a total population of 565 million, ASEAN makes up one of the largest single regional markets in the world. Its members have a combined annual trade volume of around US$850 billion, about the same as Japan’s.
The EU, the world’s largest single market, is the third largest importer of products from ASEAN countries, after the United States and Japan. Around 12 percent of ASEAN’s imports are from the EU, and 15 percent of its total exports are destined for the EU.
A fair trade agreement between the two regional groups is expected not only to bolster bilateral trade, but also to strengthen each bloc’s position on the world economic map, which has been marked by the rise of new economic giants China and India.
Falkenberg said a trade deal would open up new markets that could create new conditions for production, trade and investment.
"We’re convinced through European investment one can create substantially more employment in Indonesia, contributing to the development of competitiveness in new areas," he said.
However, many European investors are still reluctant to invest in Indonesia because of restriction in certain sectors, limitations on capital ownership and red-tape issues, he said.
Indonesia’s largest export commodity to the EU last year was agricultural produce, which made up 21.2 percent of the total, followed by cloth and textiles at 12.6 percent and machinery at 9.5 percent.
"This year we expect the trade balance will grow by about 6 percent," Falkenberg said.
"But when free trade is in place, I’m sure it will significantly increase."
