In 2019, the EU was ASEAN’s third largest trading partner after China and the United States, with US$ 280.6 billion of total trade, accounting for 10% of ASEAN’s total trade. Since 1998, ASEAN has always registered a trade surplus with the EU, peaking at US$ 54.6 billion in 2017. The EU was also the third largest provider of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in ASEAN in 2019 with US$ 16.2 billion FDI inflows from the EU, accounting for 10.1% of ASEAN’s total FDI.

In July 2007, negotiations for an ASEAN-EU FTA was launched.  However, in March 2009, after seven negotiating rounds, both sides agreed to pause negotiations. At the 15th AEM-EU Trade Commissioner Consultations on 10 March 2017, the AEM and EU Trade Commissioner agreed to launch formal region-to-region talks to develop a framework setting out the parameters of a future ASEAN-EU FTA. Following this mandate, the senior economic officials established a Joint Working Group (JWG) to develop the framework and milestones to