REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Prime Minister of United Kingdom, David Cameron, will touch down in Jakarta this afternoon, July 27, on the start of a four day visit to South East Asia. As well as boosting bilateral trade, the Prime Minister will also put his weight behind an EU-ASEAN deal. Becoming the first British Prime Minister to visit ASEAN Headquarters in Jakarta, he will call for the EU and ASEAN to jump start negotiations talks on a free trade agreement.

“We can also open up more markets for British businesses by leveraging the power of the EU's single market with 500 million consumers to secure bold, ambitious trade deals with these fastest, growing economies. The EU has shown this can be done with the trade agreement with Singapore and the recent breakthrough in talks with Vietnam but an EU ASEAN trade deal would really turbo charge growth across the single market. And I will be making the case in my discussions with Secretary General Le Luong Minh later today. Alongside an EU-US trade agreement, such deals would be like a shot in the arm for Europe's economy,” said the Prime Minister of UK, David Cameron on release statement received by ROL on Monday, July 27.

A deal between these two trading blocs has the potential to benefit the UK economy by £3 billion every year – nearly £120 per household – by creating one of the biggest free trade areas in the world with combined GDP of over $20 trillion.

Following on from the EU-Singapore FTA and on the back of recent progress on an EU-Vietnam trade deal, the Prime Minister hopes that the need for economic growth in Europe will spur on trade agreements with the rest of the world.