ASEANcham-EU’s statement on the occasion of the EU-ASEAN Commemorative Summit of 14 December 2022

 

ASEANcham-EU fully supports the organisation of the ASEAN-EU Commemorative Summit in Brussels, Belgium on 14 December 2022, and other related events including the ASEAN-EU Business Summit and ASEAN-EU Youth Summit on 13 December 2022. These events celebrate 45 years of diplomatic relations between ASEAN and EU and reaffirm the strong ties between both regions.

ASEANcham-EU recognises the significance of the Summit as heads of state/government and ministerial representatives of ASEAN and EU Member states come together to advance the ongoing ASEAN-EU strategic partnership. We are confident that this Summit will produce meaningful outcomes and strengthen engagement between the two regions.

ASEANcham-EU hopes that the Summit will recognise the importance of furthering economic ties and continue to emphasise on the importance of linking the business communities from ASEAN and EU together, in order to create growth and opportunities for the peoples of the two regions. We urge the Summit to look at ways to improve the connectivity and infrastructure necessary for businesses to connect and engage with each other. We are of the view that there is further room for advancing mutual interests of businesses from both regions in the trade of raw materials, agriculture and manufactured products such as food and beverage,
electronics, and textiles, and in the areas of sustainable transport, climate change, renewable energy, tourism, and e-commerce.

ASEANcham-EU also notes that the EU-Singapore Free Trade Agreement and EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement have been successfully implemented since November 2018 and August 2019, and hopes that the EU and Indonesia will conclude negotiations on the EU-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) as soon as possible. We also hope that the EU will agree to resume Free Trade Agreement discussions with Thailand as soon as possible, and likewise consider doing so with Malaysia and Philippines as soon as feasible. These individual agreements will provide the momentum towards a larger region-to-region Free Trade Agreement. We further call on leaders of both ASEAN and EU to recognise the benefits of a wider region-to-region EU-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement and emphasize the need to work
towards developing a framework for such an agreement.

The visit of ASEAN Leaders to the EU, many of whom are accompanied by business delegations and companies from their countries, is testament to the continued and growing interest of ASEAN in the EU market. The EU represents an important trade and economic partner for ASEAN and we hope that ASEAN companies in these delegations will find more opportunities to trade with and invest in the EU single market.

ASEANcham-EU looks forward to a successful EU-ASEAN Commemorative Summit and related events.

ASEANcham-EU Founding Board
12 December 2022