EU more than doubles assistance to Asean
The European Union has more than doubled its assistance to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to 170 million Euros over the next seven years, on the back of strengthening relations between the two regional blocs.
According to a joint statement, the announcement was made during the 13th Asean Economic Ministers (AEM)-EU Trade Commissioner consultations held over the weekend, during which the EU committed anew to continue lending its strong support and technical assistance to the Asean.
The EU previously provided Asean an assistance worth 70 million Euros, which was used primarily to help realize significant progress in key initiatives for the establishment of the Asean Economic Community (AEC).
The Asean ministers and European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström also highlighted the “growing momentum in economic cooperation, which contributed to the deepening of economic relations between the two regions.”
“Despite the economic crisis in Europe in the recent past, trade and investment between Asean and the EU remained strong,” the statement read.
Data from the Asean showed that its total bilateral trade with the EU reached $248.2 billion last year, up by a marginal 0.8 percent from the $246.2 billion recorded in 2013.
The EU is regarded as Asean’s second largest trading partner, and the region’s largest source of foreign direct investments inflows, which stood at $29.1 billion in 2014.
FDI inflows from the EU to the Asean reflected a strong 30.5-percent growth year-on-year.
Both sides have also reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen cooperation between the two regions, including exploring the possibility of resuming negotiations of an Asean-EU Free Trade Agreement in the near future.
Senior officials of the Asean and the EU are expected to meet before yearend to look more closely into this possibility.
The EU is currently regarded as one of the most important trade and investment partners of the Philippines.
Total bilateral trade between the EU and the Philippines is expected to hit a record high of 12 billion euros in 2014.
EU exports to the Philippines was estimated to have grown by 25 percent while the country’s exports to the 28-member bloc grew by 10 percent to about 6 billion Euros.
EU imports from the Philippines include electronics, appliances, optical and photographic instruments and food.
The EU also supplied about 30 percent of total foreign direct investments to the Philippines, providing around 450,000 jobs.
