T

he second joint business summit between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the European Union (EU) kicked off in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Sunday, with both organizations underlining the importance of continuing their strategic economic partnership.

Speaking in his opening remarks in the summit, ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said the EU countries had remained its key economic partners despite the financial crisis engulfing Europe that has spilled over to other parts of the world.

“Despite the economic uncertainty experienced globally, the EU has been a very important economic partner and is ASEAN’s second-largest trading partner after China,” he said, in reference to trade with the EU that reached US$208 billion in 2010, accounting for 10.2 percent of ASEAN’s total trade that year.

In terms of investment, Surin said, the EU had been ASEAN’s largest investor, pouring around $17 billion into the region in 2010, covering more than 23 percent of total foreign direct investment (FDI).

EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht said that ASEAN would continue to serve as its key partner, as 90 percent of the world’s economic growth would take place outside his own region.

“A huge proportion of that growth will happen in the ASEAN region. Far from seeing this as a threat, we Europeans see this stunning growth in Asia as part of the solution to our economic challenge,” he said, adding that European firms already closely link growth to FDI.

Gucht said that the EU would seek further free-trade agreements with individual ASEAN countries as part of its efforts to endorse a regional free-trade pact, which would not only remove a full range of tariffs that impede the flow of goods, services and investment, but also address other nontariff barriers within a legally binding framework.

Up to the present, the EU has inched closer to concluding bilateral negotiations with Singapore and has progressed similar negotiations with Malaysia. Talks on a free-trade with Vietnam have also kicked off recently, Gucht said.

Around 300 business leaders and public policy-makers from ASEAN and Europe have gathered at the summit to discuss vital issues pertaining to both regions’ trade relations, while also identifying new business and investment opportunities.

On Sunday, the summit presented sector-specific dialogues in four industries: agribusiness (food processing and beverages), infrastructure and connectivity (logistics and trade facilitation), manufacturing (automobile and pharmaceutical), and services (finance, insurance and information and communication technology).

Business-to-business meetings will also be held on Monday.

The summit is a side event to the 20th ASEAN Summit, scheduled to take place on April 3 and 4 in the Cambodian capital.

ASEAN Business Advisory Council chairman Anangga W. Roosdiono said that apart from surging direct investment, ASEAN expected to forge closer ties with the EU through the development of small and medium enterprises, which had contributed to strong economic fundamentals in the region.