EEAS in ASEAN

Christian Leffler, Deputy Secretary-General for Economic and Global Issues at the European External Action Service (EEAS), met ASEAN Secretary-General Le Luong Minh today in Jakarta to discuss the future of the EU-ASEAN partnership.

Leffler’s visit comes one month after EU Commissioner for Trade, Cecilia Malmström, and ASEAN representatives agreed to take new steps towards free trade talks.

The EU is the most important investor in ASEAN and its second trading partner. With bilateral trade in goods worth more than 200 billion euros per year, ASEAN is the EU’s third trading partner.

The dialogue between the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations spans more than 40 years. The European Economic Community was the first entity to establish informal ties with ASEAN in 1972.