Electric Cars Take Off in Norway

Jakarta Globe, Pierre-Henry Deshayes, May 11, 2011

Christian Blakseth, who traded his bicycle for an electric car, charging
his vehicle's batterie. They speed past big-engine cars in traffic, ignore
congestion charges and mock parking meters: in a country's whose wealth
is fueled by oil, Oslo has become the world capital of the electric car. (AFP Photo)

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Oslo. They speed past gas guzzlers in traffic, ignore congestion charges and get city center parking for free. In a country whose wealth is fueled by oil, Oslo has become the world capital of the electric car.

"There are more electric cars per capita here than in any other capital of the world," said Rune Haaland, the head of the electric car users association Norstart, standing in a city center car park forbidden to other car users.

Almost 4,000 of the small, clean and silent vehicles are on the roads of Norway, although they are found mainly in the cities, and the number is climbing as new models come onto the market.

From the tiny, locally made Buddy, to the sporty Tesla, which can accelerate from zero to 100 kilometers (62 miles) an hour in less than four seconds, all sorts of electric cars have taken to the roads of the Norwegian capital.

Norway may be one of the world's top fossil fuel exporters, but it has set ambitious climate policy objectives, aiming to reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent by 2020.

"The electric car is a very important tool for that, knowing that 40 percent of our emissions come from the transport sector and 60 percent of those come from road transport," Transport Minister Magnhild Meltveit Kleppa told AFP.

According to some estimates, the country's 3,891 electric cars allow it to save over 6,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year.

To persuade drivers to switch to electric cars, Norway has introduced a string of incentive measures.

Electric cars can use bus lanes and thus bypass traffic jams, they don't have to shell out congestion charges and can park for free on municipal car parks.

New father Christian Blakseth traded his bicycle for an electric car.

"It's very advantageous to be able to park for free downtown and to escape traffic jams," the young train conductor said.

"And you don't get drowned in day-to-day spending: it's a car that is expensive to buy but cheap to use," he said.

Charging an electric car's batteries at home costs about two euros ($2.90). Norwegian petrol prices are among the highest in Europe.

With growing demand, car-makers are rushing to put out new models.

And consumers are responding with just as much enthusiasm: in the first quarter this year, an electric car, Mitsubishi's i-MiEV, topped small model car sales in Norway, ahead of all time favorites.

"We were planning to sell 400 units [cars] in Norway this year, and we are already at 700. We think we will ultimately reach 1,000," the head of Mitsubishi Norway Bernt Jessen said.

Despite technological advances, distance remains a problem for electric vehicles, however, with cars only able to go for around 150 kilometers before needing to be recharged.

And with Norway's cold winters slashing battery efficiency, optimal performance is hard to achieve.

To get around this obstacle, Norway has decided to put in place a national network of charging stands across the country allowing drivers to "fill up" their cars in about 20 minutes, just long enough to enjoy a roadside cup of coffee, compared to the seven or eight hours normally needed.

The mountain cottage, sacrosanct for Norwegians, could soon be only a few kilowatts away.

AFP

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FIFA's image further tarnished by British corruption allegations

Deutsche Welle, 10.05.2011

David Beckham helped promote
England's 2018 bid

Five months after losing the bid to host the soccer 2018 World Cup, the former head of England's bid committee has said four FIFA executive committee members offered to vote for England to host in exchange for money.

Five months after England fell short of winning the bid to host the 2018 World Cup, the former head of England's Football Association has made allegations that four members of FIFA's executive council offered to vote for England's 2018 bid in exchange for money.

David Triesman, who also was in charge of England's World Cup bid before resigning last year in May, told a British parliamentary committee on Tuesday that he had personally held conversations with four FIFA officials who were seeking bribes for votes.

These members of the FIFA executive committee, the panel that selects the host nation for the World Cup, were Jack Warner of Trinidad & Tobago, Nicolas Leoz of Paraguay, Ricardo Teixeira of Brazil and Worawi Makudi of Thailand.

Warner is the powerful head of the North and Central American CONCACAF soccer federation. He denied the allegations from Triesman.

"I've never asked Triesman nor any other person, Englishman or otherwise, for any money for my vote at any time," Warner told Sky Sports in an interview.

A third of FIFA's executive committee

England last hosted the Football
World Cup in 1966

Other members of Britain's Department of Culture, Media and Sport revealed that they knew of two further FIFA executive committee members, Issa Hayatou from Cameroon and Jacques Anouma from Ivory Coast, that had received bribes to vote for Qatar's winning 2022 World Cup bid.

If the allegations are true, it would bring the total number of FIFA officials involved in bribery scandals leading up to the selection of the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts to eight.

FIFA previously suspended two executives, Amos Adamu of Nigeria and Reynald Temarii of Tahiti, for offering to sell their votes in a sting operation by the Sunday Times newspaper. This reduced the total number of voting executive committee members to 22 for the host nation decision, which took place in Zurich near FIFA headquarters at the beginning of December.

England received just two votes for its 2018 World Cup bid and was eliminated in the first round of voting. Russia went on to win with 13 votes.

Blatter staying the course to re-election

Blatter has vowed to fight
corruption at FIFA

FIFA President Sepp Blatter, who has faced his own charges of corruption in the past, said he was not responsible for the actions of the executive committee, but vowed to look into any claims of wrongdoing that were backed by evidence.

"Zero tolerance is going through FIFA, it is one of the items on the Congress. It is my battle horse. I'm fighting to clear FIFA but only when we have the evidence," he told reporters in Zurich Tuesday.

Triesman has said he will submit evidence of his claims to Blatter.

Blatter is up for re-election at a FIFA congress on June 1 at a time when allegations like the ones from Triesman and those leading up to the host nation voting have left FIFA with a seemingly permanent black eye.

Running against Blatter for the FIFA presidency is Mohamed bin Hammam from Qatar.

Author: Matt Zuvela (Reuters, dpa, AFP)

Editor: Nicole Goebel

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Austria to deport Croatian ex-PM Ivo Sanader

BBC News, 9 May 2011

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A court in Austria has decided to extradite the former Croatian Prime Minister, Ivo Sanader, to Croatia to face corruption charges.

Mr Sanader has been in detention
 in Salzburg since his arrest last
December

His lawyers swiftly lodged an appeal against extradition, so he will remain in custody in the town of Salzburg until a decision is taken on that.

Mr Sanader was arrested in Austria in December, a day after Croatia had lifted his immunity from prosecution.

He is suspected of abuse of power and embezzlement. He denies any wrongdoing.

Mr Sanader, 57, says the charges are politically motivated. He was in power in 2004-09.

There are suspicions that Mr Sanader diverted state budget money into a secret slush fund for his conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ).

Croatia's handling of this case will be under close scrutiny in the European Union, which is nearing the end of complex negotiations on Croatia's accession.

EU officials have voiced confidence that the negotiations can be wrapped up this year. That would make Croatia the 28th EU member state.

Renewable energy can power the world, says landmark IPCC study

UN's climate change science body says renewables supply, particularly solar power, can meet global demand

guardian.co.uk, Fiona Harvey, Monday 9 May 2011

A solar power plant in the Mojave desert. (Photograph: AP)

Renewable energy could more than meet the world's expected growth in future energy demand, according to a landmark report published on Monday. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the body of the world's leading climate scientists convened by the United Nations, said that solar power holds out the greatest hope for generating low-carbon energy around the planet.

The report marks the first time the IPCC has examined low-carbon energy in depth, and the first interim report since the body's comprehensive 2007 review of the science of climate change.

Although the authors are optimistic about the future of renewable energy, they note that many forms of the technology are still more expensive than fossil fuels, and find that the production of renewable energy will have to increase by as much as 20 times in order to avoid dangerous levels of global warming. Renewables will play a greater role than either nuclear or carbon capture and storage by 2050, the scientists predict.

Investing in renewables can also help poor countries to develop, particularly where large numbers of people lack access to an electricity grid.

About 13% of the world's energy came from renewable sources in 2008, a proportion likely to have risen as countries have built up their capacity since then, with China leading the investment surge, particularly in wind energy. But by far the greatest source of renewable energy used globally at present is burning biomass (about 10% of the total global energy supply), which is problematic because it can cause deforestation, leads to deposits of soot that accelerate global warming, and cooking fires cause indoor air pollution that harms health.

As with all IPCC reports, the summary for policymakers – the synopsis of the report that will be presented to governments and is likely to impact renewable energy policy – must be agreed line by line and word by word unanimously by all countries. This will be done at Monday's meeting in Abu Dhabi. This makes the process lengthy, but means that afterwards no government or scientist represented can say that they disagree with the finished findings, which the IPCC sees as a key strength of its operations.

As a result of this process, the key summary is not likely to be published until around noon on Monday.

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Medvedev tells Victory Day crowd that Russia stands for peaceful co-operation

Google/AP, by The Associated Press, May 9, 2011

MOSCOW — Russia's president, speaking to the annual Victory Day display of military might on Red Square, says the country is committed to peace and global stability.

The Monday parade, marking the surrender of Nazi Germany in World War II, saw some 20,000 servicemen march in precision formation through the vast square outside the Kremlin, followed by 100 pieces of mobile military hardware from armoured personnel carriers to lumbering Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missile launchers.

In a speech to the troops and guests, President Dmitry Medvedev said "today Russia firmly upholds the principles of peaceful co-operation, consistently advocates for a security system and contributes to the overall effort to maintain global stability in the world."

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Albanians vote in elections seen as test for EU membership

Deutsche Welle, 08.05.2011

Sunday's vote is the first test
faced by Berisha's government

Voters in Albania are casting ballots in elections Sunday seen as a major test of the country's stability as it seeks to emerge from a period of political stagnancy. Violent protests have marked the run-up to the vote.

Albania has been calm on Sunday, May 8, as voters head to the polls in the first official political confrontation between the ruling right and the opposition since undecided elections in 2009.

"This year there is more [interesting] than the other years but there is less tension, even less tension between the different election commission members (of opposing parties)," said Luljana Konomi, the ruling Democratic Party's observer for the vote in Tirana.

The relative calm among voters at polling stations in the capital belies a fierce rivalry between the government and opposition that turned deadly in January and saw protests break out in the run-up to the election.

Four people were killed in the January Tirana protests when anti-government demonstrators clashed with security forces.

The opposition Socialists have refused to accept the result of the 2009 election that gave Prime Minister Sali Berisha a second four-year term. Sunday's vote is the first test of support for Berisha's government since the election.

EU significance

The significance of the vote extends beyond the borders of Albania, however, as it is being seen as a significant test for the Balkan nation's bid to join the European Union. Some 5,000 observers - both local and international - were said to be present in the 383 districts.

Brussels rejected Albania's application to become a candidate for membership last November and has made it clear that the vote must be free and fair if the NATO-member wants also to be considered for EU-candidate status by the end of 2011.

The EU has also told Albania's feuding political parties they must negotiate to end the row over the 2009 election that is holding up legislation in parliament.

An EU team will visit Albania in late May.

The opposition Socialist Party, led by Tirana Mayor Edi Rama, is appealing to voters to use Sunday's ballot to express discontent with the national government that it calls corrupt and incompetent.

Police have deployed about 7,000 officers at the country's nearly 5,000 polling stations, reinforcing their presence in the Tirana neighborhoods where violence broke out before the election.

Polling stations close at 7:00 pm local time, with initial partial results expected later on Sunday.

Author: Gabriel Borrud (dpa, Reuters, AFP)

Editor: Kyle James

Last survivor of Dutch massacre dies

RNW, 7 May 2011

In Indonesia, the last survivor of the Rawagedeh massacre has died aged 88. Saih bin Sakam survived the 1947 massacre which was perpetrated by Dutch soldiers.

Nearly all the male population of Rawagedeh, a village on Java which has been renamed Balongsari, were shot dead. It is estimated that between 150 and 400 people were killed. Saih bin Sakam manage to survive by pretending to be dead.

Last year, relatives of those killed launched a case against the Dutch state, claiming damages. The Netherlands has admitted that war crimes were committed but says the case is statute barred. Saih bin Sakam came to the Netherlands last year to lobby Dutch MPs about the case.

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Greek PM denies country will leave euro

Reuters, by Dina Kyriakidou and Renee Maltezou, ATHENS | Sat May 7, 2011

Greece's Prime Minister George Papandreou delivers a speech at his party
lawmakers in Athens April 15, 2011. (Credit: Reuters/Yiorgos Karahalis)

(Reuters) - Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou on Saturday denied there was even unofficial discussion over Greece quitting the euro zone and asked that his troubled country be "left alone to finish its task."

Ministers from the euro zone's biggest economies met in Luxembourg to discuss Greece's debt crisis on Friday but Athens and senior EU officials denied a report by Germany's Spiegel Online that the Greek government had raised the prospect of leaving the 17-member euro zone.

"These scenarios are borderline criminal," Papandreou told a conference on the Ionian island of Meganisi. "No such scenario has been discussed even in our unofficial contacts...I call upon everyone in Greece and abroad, and especially in the EU, to leave Greece alone to do its job in peace."

European Central bank Governing Council member Erkki Liikanen on Saturday shot down reports of Greece exiting the euro and said restructuring its 327 billion euro ($470 billion) debt would offer no permanent solution to its problems.

"No euro zone country wants to leave the euro," Liikanen, who also heads the Bank of Finland, said in an interview at Finnish national broadcaster Yle.

Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the group of euro zone finance ministers who called the late Friday meeting, said there was a broad discussion of Greece and other international economic issues but said the idea of exiting the euro was stupid.

"We have not been discussing the exit of Greece from the euro area. This is a stupid idea. It is in no way -- it is an avenue we would never take," he told reporters after the meeting attended by ministers from Germany, France, Italy and Spain.

"We don't want to have the euro area exploding without reason. We were excluding the restructuring option, which is discussed heavily in certain quarters of the financial markets," he added.

But he said a meeting of all euro zone finance ministers on May 16 would discuss whether Greece needed a further economic plan. The EU is currently negotiating a bailout with Portugal, the third state it is rescuing after Greece and Ireland.

Despite a 110 billion euro international bailout, Greece, a euro zone member since 2001, has not cut its budget deficit as fast as it promised its lenders amid a deep recession. Gains from spending cuts and tax hikes have been partly erased by low revenues due to tax evasion and a deep recession.

Financial markets have been skeptical for months that Athens could manage its huge debt without eventually restructuring. As austerity bites, even some ruling socialist party politicians have been suggesting a "soft" restructuring which might involve lengthening maturities on the country's bonds.

On Friday, the euro fell nearly 1 percent against the dollar and the cost of insuring Greek debt against default was quoted at a record high in response to the Spiegel report.

Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou attended the Luxembourg talks, his finance ministry said. It added that Greece remained committed to repairing its finances and returning to economic growth.

Asked by Italy's La Stampa newspaper if it would be easier to leave the euro, the minister said on Saturday: "No, it's impossible. Above all, because the mechanism does not exist to leave the euro."

The Luxembourg talks were also attended by European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet and Olli Rehn, the European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs.

(Additional reporting by Sakari Suoninen and Paul Carrel in Helsinki, Ian Simpson in Milan; Writing by Dina Kyriakidou; editing by Keiron Henderson)

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David Cameron under fire for poor green progress

Little or no progress has been made on majority of environment policies analysed in Friends of the Earth report

guardian.co.uk, Press Association, Saturday 7 May 2011

David Cameron has come under fire for poor green progress, in a report
commissioned by Friends of the Earth. (Photograph: David Levene
for the Guardian)

Progress on the prime minister's pledge to make the coalition the "greenest government ever" was heavily criticised today by environmental leaders.

The former government adviser, Jonathon Porritt, said the likelihood of the government living up to the promise made almost a year ago was "vanishingly remote".

In a report commissioned by Friends of the Earth, Porritt said ministers were failing to deliver on key environmental pledges, and policies had been watered down, delayed or even abandoned.

In the wake of the report, the Friends of the Earth executive director, Andy Atkins, warned that without "real political courage", Cameron's green ambitions would be simply hot air.

From proposals to sell off public forests to a review of feed-in tariffs for small-scale renewables and the decision to scrap a £42m marine renewables development fund, the government has failed to champion green issues, the report claims.

According to the research, little or no progress has been made on three quarters of 77 environmental or sustainability policies that were analysed.

Porritt said the review of the policies showed that the "bad and the positively ugly indisputably outweighed the good", and that growth at all costs had won out over efforts to create a green economy and thousands of low-carbon jobs.

He said Cameron had not been personally visible on green issues, the Treasury had been hostile to environmental policies and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) was being "trampled all over" by other Whitehall departments.

And the "big society" and the localism agenda is being driven by the ideological priority to shrink the state, rather than delivering improvements in people's local environment and lives, he claimed.

Porritt was chairman of the Sustainable Development Commission, which was set up to hold the government to account on its policies on sustainability but which was scrapped last year in the "bonfire of the quangos".

In his new report he warned that in the last year, most of the "important battles" on the environment had been lost, including the Treasury's refusal to let the green investment bank borrow funds until 2015, which he said would reduce its ability to drive investment in the low-carbon economy.

But the report did flag up a number of green initiatives which it said were positive, including scrapping plans to expand airports in the south east, announcing the world's first incentives to promote renewable heating and agreeing to roll out smart meters to 30m homes by 2014.

Porritt said: "The prime minister's own credibility is at stake here – as is that of the Liberal Democrats who have clearly failed to use their influence inside the coalition to ensure a better performance on the environment and sustainable development.

"It's certainly not too late, but things are going to have to change dramatically to make up lost ground."

Atkins said: "Confidence in David Cameron's boast to run the 'greenest government ever' is fading fast.

"Rather than creating a green and safe future, his government has steadily dismantled pledges and policies that would help him achieve it.

"David Cameron could be building a prosperous low-carbon economy out of the rubble of the old, creating new jobs and industries for recession-hit Britain – but green development is continually being sacrificed in favour of growth at any cost.

"Unless the prime minister starts to show real political courage and leadership on the environment, his green ambitions will simply be more hot air."

Last month, green campaigners and business leaders attacked the government's environmental record, with one investor saying the coalition's actions threatened to "choke off the lifeblood of the green economy."

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Colonial secret papers to be made public

BBC News, 6 May 2011

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A collection of sensitive documents from Britain's colonial past are to be made public through the National Archives for the first time.

The files only emerged because of a
compensation claim by four Kenyans
who say they were abused

The files were sent to the UK from various former territories, mostly at the time they achieved independence.

The documents emerged when four Mau Mau veterans sued the UK, saying they were tortured by Kenyan colonial government in the 1950s.

The British government says it cannot be held responsible.

It wants the claim thrown out by the High Court.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said the Foreign Office only became aware of the significance of the files in January because of research linked to the court case.

'Enormous significance'

He said: "I believe that it is the right thing to do for the information in these files now to be properly examined and recorded and made available to the public.

"It is my intention to release every part of every paper of interest, subject only to legal exemptions."

Mr Hague said the job of making the papers public would be done "rapidly", but that it might take some time to complete because of the size of the archive.

David Anderson, professor of African politics at Oxford University, told the BBC the files were of "enormous significance".

He said: "These are a set of selected documents withheld for their sensitivity. We will learn things the British government of the time didn't want us to know."

"They are likely to change our view of some key places", he said. "It will clarify the last days of Empire in ways that will be shocking for some people in Britain."

Rebellion

The Foreign Office says officials have briefed the governments of those former British territories which might be affected.

The four Kenyans suing the UK say they were assaulted between 1952 and 1961 by British colonial officers in detention camps during the Mau Mau rebellion.

Thousands of people involved in the rebellion, or suspected of supporting it, were sent to the camps for "screening", or interrogation.

Britain says it cannot be held responsible for the actions of a colonial government.

The Kenya Human Rights Commission has said 90,000 Kenyans were executed, tortured or maimed during the crackdown, and 160,000 were detained in appalling conditions.

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Scotland toasts new whisky-powered bioenergy plant

Up to 9,000 homes to be powered with energy produced by burning waste matter from the whisky-making process

guardian.co.uk, Kirsty Scott,  Wednesday 4 May 2011

Scottish distilleries will power 9,000 homes with electricity and heat from
bioenergy plants using waste matter from the industry.(Photograph: Murdo Macleod)

It is the spirit that powers the Scottish economy, and now whisky is to be used to create electricity for homes in a new bioenergy venture involving some of Scotland's best-known distilleries.

Contracts have recently been awarded for the construction of a biomass combined heat and power plant at Rothes in Speyside that by 2013 will use the by-products of the whisky-making process for energy production.

Vast amounts of "draff", the spent grains used in the distilling process, and pot ale, a residue from the copper stills, are produced by the whisky industry each year and are usually transported off-site. The Rothes project, a joint venture between Helius Energy and the Combination of Rothes Distillers (CoRD) will burn the draff with woodchips to generate enough electricity to supply 9,000 homes. It will be supplied by Aalborg Energie Technick, a danish engineering company. The pot ale will be made into a concentrated organic fertiliser and an animal feed for use by local farmers.

Environmentalists have expressed concern that some of the wood used in the process may not be locally sourced, but say the 7.2MW project – the equivalent output of two large wind turbines - is a good scale and a valuable addition to Scotland's renewables industry. Green energy has been a key issue in the run-up to Thursday's Holyrood elections. The SNP leader, Alex Salmond, has pledged to produce 100% of Scotland's electricity through renewable energy by 2020, a claim dismissed as "fantasy" by Labour.

The £50m Rothes project is the latest bioenergy venture from the Scotch whisky industry, but it is believed to be the first to provide electricity for public use. A bioenergy plant at Scotland's largest distillery in Fife is close to completion. The project by Diageo will provide 98% of the thermal steam and 80% of the electrical power used at the Cameronbridge distillery. And last year, scientists at Napier University announced they had developed a method of producing biofuel from the by-products of the whisky distilling process which could power cars and even aircraft. The new fuel, they said, could be available at petrol pumps within a few years.

Of Scotland's 100 whisky distilleries, 50 are based in Speyside, and Frank Burns, general manager of CoRD, said it was an ideal location for the new bioenergy plant which will be built on an existing industrial site.

"It is very well supported in the local community. Up here in Rothes and in Speyside in general we have a lot of strong links," he said. "We had zero objections at the planning stage and we have done a lot of work within the community on the progress of the project."

Waste products from around 16 of the area's 50 distilleries will be used at the site, including well-known brands such as Glenlivet, Chivas Regal, Macallan, and Famous Grouse. None will come from further than 25 miles away.

Burns acknowledged, however, that some of the wood for the process may not be locally sourced. "Some of it will be local and some of it will be shipped in," he said. "It is down to the supplier. They may source it locally." Most of the fuel, he added, will be comprised of the draff.

Sam Gardner, climate policy officer for WWF Scotland, said:

"From the information we have, the project looks to be a very welcome addition to Scotland's renewable industry. It is using waste products from our whisky industry which is eminently sensible thing to do, and is producing heat both for whisky production and for the local community. We would want to see assurances, however, that the biomass was sustainably sourced."

EU, ASEAN nations arranging FTA

Dina Indrasafitri, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Thu, 05/05/2011

The European Union (EU) says it is talking with individual ASEAN member nations to bolster support for a potential ASEAN/EU Free Trade Agreement to help both blocs.

In addition to Singapore and Malaysia, “several other [nations] are seriously thinking on engaging the same route. It is also the case with Indonesia and European countries,” EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht said on Wednesday at the first EU-Asian business summit at the Jakarta Convention Center.

Karel said free trade agreements would be a big opportunity for every ASEAN member state.

“So we see a big effort to make a free trade agreement between EU and ASEAN,” he said.

According to Karel, free trade agreements ultimately depended on business support for success, in addition to support from the authorities, governments and the EU commission.

“It is up to private businesses to demonstrate that [an FTA] can have result to engage, invest and make trade as a goal,” he told reporters.

“The result will be lots of new business contracts that will result in more trade and more investment,” he added.

The large number of delegates attending the inaugural EU-ASEAN business summit in Jakarta – including about 300 European delegates and 200 ASEAN delegates – underscored the mutual beneficial connections between EU and ASEAN.

“Put simply, EU needs ASEAN and ASEAN needs EU,” he said.

Karel said that the EU offered ASEAN a potential market of 500 million consumers, while the EU was attracted to ASEAN’s estimated 7.8 percent growth rate in 2011.

Annual trade between EU and ASEAN tops US$ 200 billion a year.

“I want to see that grow even more as Europe has many of the world’s leading companies offering the best products and the best services on the global market place,” Karel said.

Intensifying EU-ASEAN trade would benefit the people of ASEAN as it would create more jobs, offer more choices to consumers and improve the lives of people in both ASEAN and the EU.

“This event shows EU and ASEAN are truly open for business and I look forward to seeing this event growing even larger and more successful in the future,” he said. (swd)

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