Free trade for Asia and Europe | Bangkok Post: breakingnews

Free trade for Asia and Europe

Published: 6 Nov 2012 at 20.03
Online news:

European and Asian leaders on Tuesday agreed to back free trade and resist protectionism as the best means of helping Europe out of its crisis and assuring Asia a rosy future.

''In Asia as well as in Europe, we are in the same boat, as the global economy keeps us interlinked,'' European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said at the end of the two-day Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem) informal summit held in Vientiane.

The European Union expressed a keen interest in pushing through new free trade agreements, similar to the ones recently reached with South Korea, with India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam, to boost trade between the two regions.

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pointman-1
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Discussion 3 : 07 Nov 2012 at 07.493
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Asia might have "free trade," but you can bet the farm, Asia will never have "fair trade." Asian economies are highly-involved in market-protectionism and are geared for exporting. Economic recovery in Europe will depend on economic recovery in the United States.
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DickFarang
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Discussion 2 : 07 Nov 2012 at 00.542
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Free trade, that means also fair prices for wines imported in Thailand.

Note to Bangkok Post: It is not “panecea”, but “panacea”.
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musashi
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Discussion 1 : 07 Nov 2012 at 00.511
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Rompuy:"..in the modern world we all should row in the same direction."

This is a quotable quote. FTA makes a lot of sense for an interconnected world.

Unfortunately for us here in Thailand, the feudal lords want us to row back to the Ice Age... thinking that nationalism is the way for them to retain wealth and power. Let's hope Thailand will not be the only Asean member to throw the spanner in the works.
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