EU/ASEAN : EU COUNTING ON FREE TRADE TO STAY IN THE RUNNING.

The EU intends in 2007 to start free trade negotiations with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) so as not to be left lagging behind by its main competitors in an expanding market with 540 million consumers. These negotiations on free trade agreements (FTA) with ASEAN and South Korea and India are now the priority in the European Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson's new strategy, presented in October 2006, aimed at securing better access for European companies to the emerging Asian markets by placing the emphasis on non-tariff barriers. Over the next week Europolitics will publish a series of articles analysing the principle stakes in the future negotiations.

'The logic of these agreements is not political but economic,' said a source from the Commission, emphasising...