The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, agreed with the EU to launch talks on a regionwide free-trade accord in May 2007. But progress toward clinching a deal has since moved at a glacial pace.

Earlier this month, Indonesia’s trade minister Mari Pangetu said ASEAN countries wanted a bloc-to-bloc free-trade pact but that nations were free to negotiate separate deals with the EU.

“If some countries are going to be approached for bilaterals, that’s another issue… that is their right to do it,” she told AFP in an interview.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

An ASEAN-EU free-trade agreement would cover nearly one billion people, making it one of the world’s largest.

Source: AFP