European Commission’s DG Trade on current status of EU FTAs with ASEAN members

There is renewed attention on the progress of the EU’s efforts to sign FTAs with partners within ASEAN after the European Court of Justice’s ruling that the EU-Singapore FTA must be ratified by the EU’s 38 national and regional authorities to be fully in force.

The EU has already agreed the terms of the FTAs with Singapore and Vietnam, so attention is now turning to the potential EU-Malaysia FTA. Both sides have expressed hopes that the negotiations can be completed before the end of this year. The proposed Malaysia-EU FTA is expected to boost total trade by around 20-30 per cent from the current 10 per cent, said Maria Castillo Fernandez, EU Ambassador and Head of the EU Delegation to Malaysia, according to The Star. EU-Philippine FTA negotiations were also launched in December 2015.

Peter Berz, Head of Unit South and Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand, at the Directorate General for Trade of the European Commission, will brief Asia House corporate members on the current status of EU FTAs with Malaysia and the Philippines and will give a broader outline of EU FTAs with other ASEAN members.

Peter worked as Deputy Head of Unit in the DG Trade responsible for trade relations with South and South East Asia, Australia and New Zealand until 2012. From 2002 to 2007, he acted as Deputy Head of the Trade Section of the Delegation of the European Commission in Washington, DC. Prior, he served from 2000 to 2002 at the DG for External Relations of the European Commission covering the relations with the U.S. and Canada.

This briefing is for corporate members only.

To register for this private briefing please contact Conor Paterson, Business & Policy Team at conor.paterson@asiahouse.co.uk or call 0207 307 5439.