Trade ties: EU trade commissioner Karel de Gucht (left) arrives in Hanoi for a meeting with EuroCham officials
Brick city: Cambodia has some way to go before it can engage in free trade talksBy Christian Cotroneo
Southeast Asia Globe
The European Union adopts a piecemeal approach to trading with Southeast Asia.
While Asean attempts to tighten economic bonds between its member nations, the European Union still sees the 10-nation bloc as a dish best served a la carte.
In 2008, the EU was in the thick of negotiations with Asean as a whole, when it suddenly pulled out – the European delegation was unable to bridge dramatic development gaps between countries, as well as conflicting political agendas and an overall lack of cohesion.
“We halted the process because it was not developing in a satisfactory manner,” says Jean-Jacques Bouflet, who heads trade and economic affairs for the EU in Southeast Asia. “There is a lot of diversity in Asean between Singapore and Laos, which is one of the poorest countries in Asia.
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