The third ASEAN-EU Business Summit will take place in Hanoi on March 8-9 in conjunction with the 19 th ASEAN Ministers Retreat Meeting.

The summit will be jointly held by the European Union (EU), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade, the European Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the EU-ASEAN Business Council, the ASEAN Business Advisory Council and the ASEAN Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

It serves as a high-level dialogue platform for businesses and Governments of the EU and ASEAN member countries to boost trade and investment.

The success of the first Business Summit in Jakarta in 2001 and the second in Phnom Penh in 2012 has shown that the ASEAN-EU Business Summit offers an opportunity for the business communities of ASEAN and the EU to interact and directly covey their views, concerns and wishes to economic leaders from the two regions.

As many as 600 local and international high-level policy makers and international business leaders will seek ways to further improve business in the most relevant trade and investment sectors such as agri-food, automotive, financial services, ICT, infrastructure/connectivity and pharmaceuticals.

Results of the discussions will be presented to the ten ASEAN Trade Ministers and EU Commissioner for Trade at the end of the summit, making it an ideal platform to advance private sector recommendations to policy makers on regional issues.

In the past years, ASEAN has achieved world-wide recognition for being one of the most dynamic and integrated regions. The growing purchasing power of 600 million consumers and the ongoing progress of regional agendas are offering an integrated market and production base for both businesses and consumers.

As the world’s largest single market with 500 million consumers and an abundant source of top quality investments, the EU presents great potential to bring advanced technologies, innovation and expertise to ten dynamic economies of ASEAN.-VNA