De handel van de EU met Maleisië, Australië, Nieuw Zeeland en Papoea-Nieuw-Guinea in cijfers (en)
EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht i will make a key visit to Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea between 13 and 21 March 2011. His first stop in Kuala Lumpur will focus on the progress made in the current negotiations of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Malaysia. In Australia and New Zealand the Commissioner will discuss issues of common concern such as trade rules on raw materials and in New Zealand Commissioner De Gucht will represent the European Union at the national memorial service in Christchurch following the recent earthquake. During his final stop in Papua New Guinea the Commissioner will support a new Economic Partnership Agreement with the region covering duty-free, quota-free access to EU markets for goods.
EU Trade relations with Malaysia (13-14 March)
Malaysia is one of the 10 member countries of the Association of South-East-Asian nations (ASEAN): Burma/Myanmar, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Malaysia is the EU's second trading partner inside ASEAN, behind Singapore, with bilateral trade in goods reaching about 32 billion euro in 2010. Malaysia has not been a major trading partner in services so far, but opportunities have already been increasing due to its liberalization policies and should further advance with an FTA.
EU imports from Malaysia have increased by 40% and EU exports by 15% over the past year thanks to the economic recovery. Industrial products such as electronics and machinery account for about 66% of EU imports. Electronics and machinery also account for the largest share in EU exports amounting to 51%.
The EU started negotiating a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with Malaysia in October 2010 with the ambitious objective on both sides of concluding a deal within two years. Negotiations are on good track with two rounds held so far.
The ASEAN countries as a group are the EU's third largest trading partner outside Europe, after the United States and China. Bilateral trade in goods between the EU and ASEAN reached some €146.7 billion in 2010, in commercial services €38.2 billion in 2009.
EU Trade relations with Australia (15-17 March)
The EU was Australia's second largest trading partner in 2009, a key export market and the EU's 17th major trade partner in 2010. Trade between the two economies has been growing steadily. With goods exported to Australia totalling 26.7 billion Euros and imports of 9.8 billion Euros in 2010 the EU holds a trade surplus of 16.9 billion Euros. Australia's exports are dominated by mineral commodities and agricultural products (mainly wine). EU exports to Australia are mainly medicaments, motor vehicles, machinery and telecommunication equipment.
The EU is still Australia's largest trading partner in services in terms of both, imports and exports. Services are an important component of the overall EU-Australia trade relationship, comprising about 28% of bilateral trade in 2009-10.
Since October 2008 the EU and Australia have been parties to a "Mutual Recognition Agreement" that reinforces cooperation on the Doha Round and also simplifies the certification of products for export. The agreement applies to a wide range of products, including medical devices, electrical equipment and telecommunications equipment.
EU Trade relations with New Zealand (18-19 March)
Whilst New Zealand's trade focus is increasingly on Asia and the Pacific, the EU remains a very important trading partner. Imports from New Zealand are mainly generated by agricultural products (about 65%) and amounted to 2.8 billion euro in 2010. In 2010 exports amounted to a value of 2.7 billion euro. Commercial services, mainly related to air and sea transport, the telecommunications market and tourism, represented more than 36% of total trade with New Zealand in 2009.
In 1999, the EU and New Zealand concluded a bilateral agreement, similar to that which exists with Australia which aims at the reduction of technical barriers.
EU Trade relations with Papua New Guinea (20-21 March)
The Economic Partnership Agreement with Papua New Guinea (PNG) foresees duty-free, quota-free access to EU markets, and asymmetric liberalisation on the Pacific side.
Total Pacific ACP - EU trade in 2008-2009 was around €1 billion with a significant trade surplus of over €500 million for Pacific ACP states. However their share of EU imports and exports is very small - around 0.06% and 0.02% respectively. The Pacific's most important export products to the EU are animal and vegetable oils, sugar, coffee, tea & spices and copper. The EU's main exports are mechanical machinery, electrical machinery, vehicles and oil. PNG and Fiji are the EU's main trading partners - together they comprise 83% of total EU-Pacific trade volumes1.
More information on the EU's trade relations with
Malaysia
http://ec.europa.eu/trade/creating-opportunities/bilateral-relations/countries/malaysia/
ASEAN
http://ec.europa.eu/trade/creating-opportunities/bilateral-relations/regions/asean/
Australia
http://ec.europa.eu/trade/creating-opportunities/bilateral-relations/countries/australia/
New Zealand
http://ec.europa.eu/trade/creating-opportunities/bilateral-relations/countries/new-zealand/
Pacific region including Papua New Guinea
Economic Partnerships with Developing Countries
http://ec.europa.eu/trade/wider-agenda/development/economic-partnerships/
IP/11/270 : EU Trade Commissioner De Gucht travels to Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea to discuss bilateral and multilateral trade agenda
Note these stats exclude 'ships' which can lead to exaggerations in trade between the EU and the region, in particular the Marshall Islands and the Cook Islands. This is because of distortions in how ships which are maintained and registered in the region are recorded as an export or import.