Asean-EU trade talks stall

Bangkokpost.com, Published: 13/03/2009 at 06:52 PM 

Free trade talks between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and the European Union have stalled due to the gap between the economies of some of Asean's 10 members and the EU's requirements. 

Chutima Bunyapraphasara, director-general of the Trade Negotiations Department, said on Friday trade talks with the EU under the Asean framework are to pause temporarily after the seventh round of talks on March 4-5 in Kuala Lumpur. 

Asean and the EU agreed to launch free trade talks in May 2007, but little progress has been made. 

Ms Chutima said Europe wants to negotiate with individual Asean members, while Asean prefers a regional free trade agreement, rather than bilateral pacts with member countries. 

Any change to this policy would require the approval of regional ministers, said Ms Chutima. 

Philippe Meyer, the director-general for trade at the European Commission, earlier said in Bangkok that Europe was willing to move forward with bilateral talks with Thailand and other Asean countries while still maintaining the broader framework of regional trade talks. 

Besides Thailand, the EU is interested in talks with Asean members including Singapore, Brunei and Vietnam.