Merkel pushes EU, Southeast Asia free trade pact

As European nations are struggling to climb out of debt, Southeast Asian nations are experiencing strong growth. Indonesia grew 6,5 percent in 2011 and is forecast to grow at the same pace this year.

On Tuesday, Merkel and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono pledged to boost trade, which now stands at around US$7 billion, and Indonesian officials forecast it to reach US$12 billion by 2014.

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and the European Union in May 2007 agreed to start free trade agreement talks after years of wrangling over human rights abuses in Myanmar.

The EU has begun negotiating agreements with individual Asean states, including Malaysia and Singapore. Myanmar in April pushed for an EU-Asean agreement, citing major reforms in the country.

Asean as a whole represents the EU’s third-largest trading partner outside Europe, with more than 206 billion euros (US$253 billion) of trade in goods and services in 2011, according to the European Commission. — AFP.