The EU on March 15 announced the relaunch of negotiations for a modern and balanced free trade agreement (FTA) with sustainability at its core, especially in the green technology field.

The bloc and Thailand, Southeast Asia’s second largest economy, launched negotiations in 2013 but discussions stalled due to Thailand’s political instability.

To date, the EU’s investment in Thailand in many areas such as clean and renewable energies, electric vehicles and microchips is under-represented in spite of they are strategic areas in the bloc’s industrial policies.

The first round of talks is expected to be held in the coming months.

Trade turnover between the two sides was worth over 42 billion EUR (44.3 billion USD) in 2022.

The EU is pushing to develop better trade relations with a fast-growing Indo-Pacific region, especially in clean technology as the bloc races to meet climate targets by 2030.

Brussels already has trade agreements with Vietnam and Singapore. In September 2022, the bloc set a target to agree a free trade deal with Indonesia within two years./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency