The European Union and Southeast Asia have agreed to begin free-trade talks in one of the world's largest regional trade negotiations.
The EU spans 27 nations and 490 million people while the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) is home to around 560 million people. Trade between the two groups stood at around $140 billion in 2005, according to ASEAN data.
"I think it has a huge potential not just to deepen economic ties between us but to grow international trade as a whole and make an important boost to the global economy," European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson after a meeting with ASEAN trade ministers in Brunei.
Neither he nor ASEAN ministers gave a time-frame for the talks, but Malaysian Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz said the two sides would assemble a joint panel of senior trade officials to draft a schedule and programme for talks.
As it scrambles to fend off competition from giant neighbours India and China, ASEAN is aiming for internal economic integration by 2015 and is spinning a web of trade ties to foster growth.
ASEAN has declared itself a free-trade area but has yet to forge a free-trade agreement as a bloc with any external trade partner. It is negotiating free-trade pacts with China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.
The United States, the region's largest trade partner, has signed a trade and investment arrangement with ASEA, but free-trade talks are still seen as a long way off.
