Last week, officials of the EU and of ASEAN (community of South-East Asian countries) agreed to get back to work on an EU-ASEAN free trade agreement. The talks were opened in 2007, but the EU walked away in 2009 because of the human rights abuses in Myanmar, an ASEAN member. Since then, the European bloc negotiated and concluded a free trade deal with Singapore in December 2012, and also started separate negotiations with Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia. The EU Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstroem stated after last week´s meeting with ASEAN officials, that the EU is committed to a region-to-region trade deal. The EU and ASEAN have a long history of cooperation and in economic terms, the EU is ASEAN´s second-largest trading partner and largest FDI provider.

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