SBY calls for enhancement of ASEAN-EU trading partnership

All ears on business: President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono sits with Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa and Trade Minister Mari Pangestu, listening to a speaker during the first ASEAN-EU Business Summit, in Jakarta on Thursday. (Antara/Prasetyo Utomo)President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has officially opened the historic first ASEAN-EU Business Summit, calling on the EU business world to partner with ASEAN counterparts in the flourishing Asian economy.

The size of ASEAN economies has increased sharply to the current figure of US$2.9 trillion, up from $700 billion when leaders first agreed to establish an ASEAN community in 2003.

“If we include ASEAN and the six partners with which it already has trade agreements – China, Japan, Korea, India,

Australia and New Zealand — then amount comes to $15 trillion, the same economic size as the EU and the US,” Yudhoyono told participants at opening of the ASEAN-EU summit. He added that the EU could be strong development partner with ASEAN, saying Europe had a wealth of experience in economic integration and community building.

“ASEAN has and will continue to learn from the European experience,” he said.

The EU is currently the second-largest trading partner for ASEAN and the largest investor, while ASEAN is the EU’s fifth-largest trading partner.