EU/ASEAN : BURMESE PROBLEM THREATENS FREE TRADE TALKS.

The start-up of the negotiation of a free trade agreement (FTA) between the EU and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 2007, a priority of Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson's new trade strategy, is being threatened by the thorny issue of Burma. The European Commission, the member states and their Asian counterparts are currently engaged in discrete diplomacy to work out a compromise solution in the hope of getting the negotiations off the ground on time. The talks aim to do away with trade barriers between the two economic blocs. "We are working on it," recognised the Finnish EU Presidency...