Asean and its six dialogue partners of Australia, New Zealand, Japan,
India, South Korea and China are set to launch a regional free trade agreement
(FTA) later this month, an official said Sunday.
Asean Secretary-General Surin
Pitsuwan said the so-called Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)
was part of the grouping’s architecture of economic partnership.
“I talked about the five FTAs
that we have with the six countries. We are now putting the five together into
one agreement that will be launched later this month in Phnom Penh,” Surin told
some 350 participants of the 13th Asia-Europe Business Forum in Vientiane, the
capital of Laos.
The two-day forum has been
organised back to back with the 9th Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem) Summit to be
held in same city on Monday and Tuesday.
Surin was referring to the five
FTAs that Asean had previously made with Australia and New Zealand under one
agreement, and with four other countries, namely India, Japan, South Korea and
China, in four different agreements.
Once this is done, he added, he
was certain that they would be in an even more dynamic region for all East Asia
through Asean.
Asean has a combined GDP of
US$2.4 trillion, which is larger than that of India alone, of Australia and New
Zealand combined, and of South Korea. Yet, he said, Asean still needed support
from its dialogue partners, especially as it is pledged to become a single
community by 2015.
Surin said that FTAs within Asean
dated back to 2005 and at that time, they also started to explore the
possibility of an Asean-EU free trade agreement. Yet, as the EU has 27 members,
such an agreement was considered too complicated.
“Eventually, we will come back to
that Asean-EU free trade agreement. This will be good for both sides,” Surin
said.
Surin also highlighted the
significance of EU countries in the trade and investment sectors within the
Asean region, which places EU as the grouping’s third largest trading partner.
Trade between Asean and the EU
grew by 6 per cent in 2011, amounting to about $240 billion between the 27 EU
countries and 10 Asean countries.
Exports to the EU from Asean had
also increased by 8.3 per cent, amounting to about $444 billion, while imports
from the EU improved by 17.8 per cent. “This means that while we are
maintaining our dynamism, we are importing more services from Europe,” he said.
In a separate development,
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and First Lady Ani Yudhoyono made an
official visit to Lao President Choummaly Sayasone at the Ho Kham Palace in
Vientiane on Sunday afternoon.
Also in the President’s entourage
were Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan, Industry Minister MS Hidayat, Education and
Culture Minister Mohammad Nuh, Youth and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng and
Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam.
Gita said Indonesia expects its
bilateral trade with Laos to double to $60 million next year. “This year, our
bilateral trade can settle at $30 million, and that will be excellent if trade
doubles by next year,” he said.
According to Gita, the current
level of trade still does not reflect the potential, and Indonesia may become
the biggest trading partner for Laos in Asean, considering the size of its
economy.
Indonesia is currently the second
biggest export destination for Laos in Asean, and the fourth largest source of
imports.
In January-July this year,
overall bilateral trade increased by 283.3 per cent to $21.9 million compared
to the same period last year.
This was particularly attributed
to exports that jumped by 314.9 per cent to $18.9 million, along with imports
that surged by 160 per cent to $3 million.
Sri Wahyuni and
Linda Yulisman
Business & Investment Opportunities
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