VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - The European Union (EU) on Thursday highlighted its solid relationship with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in trade and investment.

"We have very solid trade and investment relations," European Union Ambassador to ASEAN, Igor Driesmans, told reporters here.

This strong relationship can be seen from the trade value in goods between the EU and ASEAN, which has reached 200 billion euros per year, he said.

"If you compare this to Australia, to India, it's not even half that number," the ambassador added.

He said he hoped that the figure can be increased further, especially through the free trade agreements that the EU has reached with ASEAN countries.

The European Union has also made a large investment of 10 billion euros as part of cooperation in the fields of air transport, trade, and also for ASEAN connectivity.

It has also carried out its green agenda in ASEAN under the push to tackle climate change by pursuing net zero emissions.

The EU itself accounts for 17 percent of global CO2 emissions.

Therefore, cooperation with many parties, including ASEAN, is considered important and urgent, given the increasing number of disasters in a number of countries lately due to climate change.

"If you see the kind of impact that climate change is having on our own continent, it is really frightening in many ways," he said.

"So, we need to work together. We need to try to get all the countries in the world to work together to tackle climate change," Driesmans added. (Antaranews)