BERLIN – The European Union is poised to alter its southeast Asia trade policy to deal with individual members of the ASEAN trade alliance rather than with the bloc as a whole, a senior official said Friday.
The German daily Handelsblatt quoted EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton as saying: “The process with ASEAN up to now has been very slow. We must now check how we can move forward quicker with individual countries that are prepared to do so.”
The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed with the EU to launch talks on a regionwide free-trade accord in May 2007.
But progress towards clinching a deal has since moved at a glacial pace due to a myriad of problems including European concerns over human rights violations in ASEAN member Myanmar.
Earlier this month, Indonesia’s trade minister Mari Pangetu said ASEAN countries wanted a bloc-to-bloc free-trade pact but that nations were free to negotiate separate deals with the EU.
“If some countries are going to be approached for bilaterals, that’s another issue … that is their right to do it,” she told AFP in an interview.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
An ASEAN-EU free-trade agreement would cover nearly one billion people, making it one of the world’s largest.
According to IMF figures, trade between the EU and ASEAN countries amounted to over 140 billion euros (190 billion dollars), topped only by China.–Agence France-Presse
March –
IT’S WOMEN’S MONTH!
“Respect and support women
every day of the year/s!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO Constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the recommendations of the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry
against serious violations of protocols of
Forced Labour and Freedom of Association.
Accept the National Unity Government (NUG)
of Myanmar. Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands
#Report Corruption #SearchPosts #TakePicturesVideos
Monthly Observances:
Women’s Role in History Month
Weekly Observances:
Week 1: Environmental Week;
Women’s Week
Week 3: Philippine Industry and “
Made-in-the-Philippines Products Week
Last Week: Protection and Gender-Fair Treatment
of the Girl Child Week
Daily Observances:
March 8: Women’s Rights and
International Peace Day;
National Women’s Day
March 4: Employee Appreciation Day
March 15: World Consumer Rights Day
March 18: Global Recycling Day
March 21: International Day for the Elimination
of Racial Discrimination
March 23: International Day for the Right to the Truth
Concerning Gross Human Rights Violations
and for the Dignity of Victims
March 25: International Day of Remembrance of the
Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade
March 27: Earth Hour
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
