On 18 July, the Council officially authorized the Commission to open free trade talks with Indonesia. Indonesia is a member of ASEAN, a regional integration body in South-Eastern Asia. The EU authorized region-to-region free trade talks with ASEAN in 2007. However, such approach was not successful for the time being and the talks were suspended in 2009. Free trade talks with individual ASEAN members were to be launched. Agreements with Vietnam and Singapore have been concluded, while talks with Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines have been ongoing. The EC will negotiate on behalf of the EU, while consulting with the Council´s Trade Policy Committee. The negotiators are to take an ambitious approach.

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