UK Partnership With ASEAN

On 5 August 2021, the UK agreed a new partnership with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)*. The partnership, which is the first ASEAN has agreed in 25 years, will lead to closer cooperation between the UK and the region on a range of issues such as trade, investment, climate change, the environment, science and technology, and education. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab joined a virtual ceremony with ASEAN Foreign Ministers where they welcomed the UK as an ASEAN ‘Dialogue Partner’. This follows UK formally launching accession negotiations with the CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) nations in June 2021. The CPTPP is one of the largest free trade areas in the world, accounting for 13% of global GDP in 2019. Four ASEAN states – Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei – are members of the CPTPP.

Raab said: “This is a landmark moment in the UK’s tilt towards the Indo Pacific. Our closer ties with ASEAN will help create green jobs, reinforce our security cooperation, promote tech and science partnerships, and safeguard key pillars of international law like the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.” The new agreement will also help the UK to deepen economic links with ASEAN, which has a combined GDP of $3.2 trillion. Total trade between the UK and ASEAN was £32.3 billion in the four quarters to the end of Q1 2021 with huge potential to boost this trade, creating jobs at home.

* ASEAN member countries are: Brunei Darussalam, Myanmar/Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam.

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