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urope and ASEAN have a long history of strong commercial ties. Not only is the EU by far the largest investor in ASEAN countries, it is also ASEAN'€™s second-largest trading partner after China. The two regions'€™ wider economies benefit immensely from aviation, which generates and facilitates growth, employment, tourism and connectivity with the rest of the world.

Today, it is Asia that leads the world in terms of growth, in both gross domestic product (GDP) and air traffic. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Singapore, the host of the EU-ASEAN Aviation Summit, that boasts one of the world'€™s busiest and most beautiful airports.

Half of the global traffic that will be added during the next 20 years is likely to be to, from or within the Asia-Pacific region. By 2017, according to International Air Transport Association (IATA), this will be the world'€™s largest regional market for air passenger transportation with one-third of global passengers.

This region'€™s continued expansion will be the main force driving future growth in global air traffic, for cargo and for passengers. In Europe, we therefore follow ASEAN'€™s moves to create a single regional aviation market by 2015 with a good deal of interest. With its high economic growth rates and advances toward market integration and liberalization, it is a market that offers attractive opportunities to European airlines, airports and manufacturing industries. This is the prime reason why Europe expands its presence in this region across the board.

Overall EU-ASEAN air traffic has nearly doubled over the last 15 years. Moreover, direct freight and passenger traffic has started to level off in recent years given that traffic is increasingly routed via hubs in the Gulf.

European flag carriers are challenged indeed to maintain their global market share, both by low-cost carriers competing for the European short-haul market and by Gulf carriers for the long-haul routes, particularly to Asia. The opportunities for European carriers are no longer only in Europe or on transatlantic routes. They also need better access to new promising growth markets such as ASEAN. The prospects are promising: air passenger traffic between Europe and Southeast Asia is expected to rise by 5 percent annually over the next 20 years. This will benefit European and ASEAN-based carriers alike. Already today some of the EU- ASEAN city routes, such as London-Singapore, are amongst the most frequented worldwide.

When ASEAN'€™s 10 national aviation markets are integrated and unified, the resulting single market will have much in common with that of Europe, which is based on common rules and market opening. It will benefit from closer regulatory cooperation and convergence in safety, security and air traffic management. ASEAN is taking gradual steps towards liberalizing airline ownership and control requirements and also explore the concept of an ASEAN Community carrier, similar to that already developed in Europe.

I therefore believe that the two regions already take a similar approach and share generally the same philosophy when it comes to the future of aviation. In our experience, air services liberalization offers major economic benefits through competitive service provision, which brings lower air fares, more passenger choice and destinations, emerging new airlines and increased air traffic. All of this contributes to economic growth and employment.

In Europe, we did overcome segregated national markets to build a vibrant and competitive single market. ASEAN is moving firmly in the same direction.

The EU is already supporting ASEAN in its efforts by funding a technical cooperation and assistance project. A single ASEAN aviation market is therefore a natural partner for us. A full EU-ASEAN partnership based on the world'€™s first comprehensive region-to-region aviation agreement could give further weight to our shared philosophy on aviation topics, particularly in areas such as ownership and control.

Economically, both sides will gain from market liberalization, regulatory convergence as well as increased trade and investment. An inter-regional arrangement that removed restrictions between our two regions would enhance fair competition and help our carrier to gain a competitive edge in the global market.

ASEAN transportation ministers have written to me expressing their interest in negotiating such an agreement, so it is my hope that this month'€™s EU'€“ASEAN Aviation Summit in Singapore will be the starting point for raising our aviation relations to the next level. If all goes well, I would then ask the European Commission to seek a mandate from the EU'€™s 28 member states to open proper negotiations.

The writer is the vice president of the European Commission and Commissioner for Transport.