A high-ranking official from the European Union said here Wednesday that the EU greatly supports the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)'s goal to establish the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015.
European Union High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) Javier Solana said this after attending the ASEAN Post Ministerial Conference held between ASEAN and EU.
Solana said that the ASEAN has what it takes to play an important role not only for the region but also for the world.
Referring to the recent move of the ASEAN to establish a single market and production base in the fulfillment of an ASEAN Economic Community, Solana said, "we see this regional association as the start of something big."
The EU is a long-standing dialogue partner of ASEAN. Cooperation between the two groups is based on a Cooperation Agreement signed in 1980 between the EU and ASEAN.
In 2005, the EU was ASEAN's second largest export market and the third largest trading partner after the United States and Japan. EU exports to ASEAN were estimated at 45 billion euros, while EU imports from ASEAN were valued at 71 billion euros.
Solana also said that the EU would also like to go beyond the economic partnership and establish an important political relation with ASEAN.
He said that the EU and ASEAN, together representing around 1 billion people and committed to the same principles of regional and multilateral cooperation, had great potential to work together to address global challenges.
Source: Xinhua
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