January 29, 2003	Wednesday	Ziqa’ad 25,1423

BRUSSELS, Jan 28: The European Union and Southeast Asia on Tuesday held out the prospect of a trade pact between their regions, but said the priority for now should be to secure a new global regime via the World Trade Organization.

At a two-day meeting here, foreign ministers of the EU and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) backed the WTO’s Doha round of negotiations aimed at freeing up world trade.

They discussed “the important role of the multilateral trading system embodied by the WTO in contributing to world economic growth and reinforcing international economic relations”, a joint statement said.

The two sides agreed to work together on the Doha objectives of benefiting developing nations in areas such as market access, and also supported the WTO membership bids of ASEAN members Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

ASEAN Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong said a long-term aim for his region was to secure a free-trade agreement (FTA) with the EU.

“The ASEAN-EU FTA is an ideal. We will look towards that,” the Singaporean official told a news conference.

“But at the moment, we should look towards the conclusion of the Doha round and get the best benefits and best understanding for every country,” Ong said.

“The ministers on both sides were able to appreciate that the priority today, at this moment, is to get the best out of the Doha round.”

After losing out in recent years to the cheaper labour markets of China, ASEAN in November signed a deal with the communist giant to create the world’s biggest FTA by 2015, embracing 1.7 billion people.

ASEAN is also in talks to forge a similar deal with Japan.

EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten said Europe and Southeast Asia already had a successful trading partnership, and noted that after the EU welcomes 10 more members next year, both it and ASEAN will be home to more than 500 million people.

“But we are concerned that we should be able to encourage more European investment in ASEAN and I think that the more that it’s possible for ASEAN to promote economic integration, the more likely it is that we’ll see success in attracting investors,” he said.

“Our priority is a successful outcome to the Doha development round,” Patten added.

“But we are prepared for bloc-to-bloc discussions on trade and, I hope after a successful Doha round, to negotiate a preferential trade regime between the European Union and the ASEAN countries.”

Such a regime would depend on ASEAN’s ability to bring down non-tariff barriers such as different regulations and customs rules between its member states, Patten said.

The European Commission — the EU’s executive arm — is formulating a new strategy towards Southeast Asia due for release in the spring to update a relationship that is based on a bilateral accord signed in 1980.

Since then, both the EU and ASEAN have been transformed through the addition of new members and a vastly changed world picture for trade.

The EU now has a common market between its members, which the ASEAN chief acknowledged could teach his region much as it gropes towards its own free-trade area by 2020.—AFP