Economy complains about “overloading of trade talks”

Brussels, Singapore Negotiations on a number of free trade agreements are faltering Asia represent a threat to the federal government’s diversification plans from the point of view of business representatives. Reliable and good commercial contracts are the basis for expanding business relationships with India and Southeast Asia, said Volker Treier, head of foreign trade at the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the Handelsblatt. “We don’t have enough of those in the region.”

In recent years the EU has concluded free trade agreements with Japan, Singapore and Vietnam can close. In the summer, EU negotiators also agreed on a trade agreement with New Zealand – and an agreement with Australia next spring is also considered possible. In talks with the most important emerging countries in the region, such as India and Indonesia, the Europeans have so far not been able to reach a conclusion, even after years of negotiations.