This event, which comprised a conference and matchmaking meetings, was the seventh event organised by the Directorate-General for Industry, Internal Markets, Entrepreneurship and SMEs during the EXPO, whose central theme is 'Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life'.

The South-East Asia IPR SME Helpdesk was a partner in the event for which 194 participants registered.

The morning session of the conference focused on access to finance for the internationalisation of European and ASEAN small and medium-sized enterprises (SMES), and policies and tools to improve the business environment between the EU and the ASEAN.

ASEAN representatives stressed the importance of the economic integration process, even if the path sometimes seems slow. A new 'blueprint agenda for 2025' is in preparation that will provide elements for progressing on integration in the 3 pillars: economic, social and political.

It was also underlined several times that both regions are natural partners not only for trade and economic reasons but also for sharing a common vision on prosperity. It was mentioned that one of the ways to further develop the potential of EU-ASEAN relations could be to initiate a process of establishing common priorities such as climate change, research and innovation, trade liberalisation, disaster management, fighting global criminality, infrastructures for connectivity or visa facilitation for business people.

Some key phrases that came from the first day of discussions were: increasing middle-class population, connectivity, tapping the potential for relationships, increasing business consultation, access to finance for SMEs, instruments supporting the internationalisation of companies, intellectual property rights defence, and eliminating non-tariffs barriers.

The large attendance and the high political level of the speakers was evidence that the ASEAN region offers huge potential for the EU economy and businesses.

The ASEAN countries represented were:

• Cambodia 
• Hong Kong
• Indonesia
• Malaysia
• Myanmar
• Philippines 
• Singapore 
• Thailand
• Vietnam

On the EU side, there were representatives from 14 member countries:

• Austria
• Belgium
• Denmark
• France
• Germany
• Hungry
• Italy
• the Netherlands
• Romania
• the Slovak Republic
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden 
• UK

382 business-to-business meetings were organised on 30 September in the following sectors:

• agro-food manufacturing (production technologies, automation, monitoring and packaging)
• innovative and high-quality food products
• food security
• food quality
• green economy on agriculture and food
• food conservation and shelf life

EU-ASEAN Days Agenda

The Commission promotes investment and business opportunities among European and ASEAN companies (PDF, 203 kB)

The South-East Asia IPR SME Helpdesk