Digital trade co-operation may be building block for elusive EU-Asean free-trade pact

A KEY official of a business council has said that the European Union (EU) and Asean may reveal some big developments to cooperate in the digital economy by the end of the third quarter, on the back of progress in talks by the joint working group of the two blocs.

Chris Humphrey, executive director of the EU-Asean Business Council (EU-ABC), told The Business Times: “If that happens, we will see much more flourishing EU-Asean trade and investment relations beyond the bilateral free-trade agreements.”

He was referring to the ongoing talks under the EU-Asean’s joint working group on trade and investment on sectoral cooperation; apart from the digital economy, the talks also cover potential cooperation in sustainable trade and the resilience of supply chains.