{"id":93428,"date":"2017-03-10T21:46:50","date_gmt":"2017-03-11T02:46:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=93428"},"modified":"2017-03-10T21:46:50","modified_gmt":"2017-03-11T02:46:50","slug":"asean-eu-eye-resumption-of-fta-negotiations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/03\/10\/asean-eu-eye-resumption-of-fta-negotiations\/","title":{"rendered":"ASEAN, EU eye resumption of FTA negotiations"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The ASEAN and the European Union (EU) have expressed interest to resume rounds of negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA). (PNA photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA\u2014The ASEAN and the European Union (EU) have expressed interest to resume rounds of negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA).<\/p>\n

During the joint press conference of the 15th ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM)-EU Trade Commissioner Consultations here on Friday, Philippine Trade Secretary and AEM Chairman Ramon Lopez said the two parties had discussed future steps to re-launch the FTA discussions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn order to reinforce the momentum, the AEM and EU Trade Commissioner tasked the Senior Economic Officials to develop a framework encompassing the parameters of a future ASEAN-EU FTA, and to report back to the next AEM-EU Trade Commissioner Consultations,\u201d Lopez said.<\/p>\n

To support the resumption of the FTA talks, the trade chief said that AEM and EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstr\u00f6m had endorsed during the consultations the ASEAN-EU Trade and Investment Work Programme for 2017-2018.<\/p>\n

Lopez said that the ASEAN-EU Trade and Investment Work Programme for 2017-2018 aimed to enhance economic cooperation between ASEAN and the EU by addressing emerging challenges and capitalizing on opportunities for trade and investments.<\/p>\n

Moreover, Malmstr\u00f6m reaffirmed EU\u2019s commitment to enhance trade and investment cooperation with the ASEAN.<\/p>\n

She noted that the relation between the two regions is \u201cvibrant, good, and developing\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the European Union, we are very committed to strengthening and developing our EU-ASEAN relations,\u201d the visiting EU trade commissioner said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are committed to open-trade and advancing positive, win-win global trade agenda. So, it is important to find like-minded partners here in ASEAN to see the value of trade,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

It was in 2007 when ASEAN and the EU began the FTA negotiations. However, discussions were halted two years later.<\/p>\n

But, EU has continued talks with ASEAN countries for bilateral FTAs.<\/p>\n

To date, EU has FTA with Singapore and Vietnam, while pursuing rounds of negotiations for trade deals with the Philippines and Indonesia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe it is important to connect to growing markets and to take away as many obstacles to trade as possible. Having a region-to-region agreement between the EU and the ASEAN is a long term goal that we\u2019ve been discussing for many years and we are taking steps forward,\u201d Malmstr\u00f6m said.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the 15th AEM-EU Trade Commissioner Consultations gathers top trade officials of the 10 member states of ASEAN and the EU.<\/p>\n

The meeting was attended by Brunei Darussalam Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Dato Paduka Lim Jock Hoi; Cambodian Minister of Commerce Pan Sorasak; Indonesian Minister of Trade Enggratiasto Lukita; Director General of the Ministry of Industry of Commerce of Lao PDR Laohoua Cheutching;<\/p>\n

Malaysian Minister of International Trade and Industry Dato Sri Mustapa Mohamed; Deputy Minister for Planning and Finance of Myanmar Maung Maung Win; Singapore Minister of Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang; Thailand Minister of Commerce Apiradi Tantraporn; Vietnam Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh; Philippines\u2019 Lopez; EU\u2019s Malmstr\u00f6m; and ASEAN Secretary General Le Luong Minh.<\/p>\n

The consultation with the EU trade commissioner coincided with 23rd AEM Retreat and Related Meetings hosted by the Philippines from March 8 to 10.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u2014The ASEAN and the European Union (EU) have expressed interest to resume rounds of negotiations for a free trade agreement …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":93431,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[595,3103],"class_list":["post-93428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-asean","tag-european-union","mauthors-kris-m-crismundo","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}