British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab (Source: AFP/VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab travelled to Thailandon July 31 to attend a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers in Bangkok to seeknew trade opportunities and stronger diplomatic ties ahead of the country’sexit from the European Union (Brexit).
This is the first overseas trip of Raab since his appointment to thepost last week.
Speaking ahead of his trip, Raab said that the UK’s trade focus has beenon Europe for too long. Therefore, the trip aimed at grasping the enormous globalopportunities for the UK, he said.
Two-way trade between the UK and ASEAN reaches 36 billion pounds (43.8billion USD) a year, and there are opportunities for the country to boost bilateraltrade to benefit British businesses and consumers, he added.
According to new British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the UK is due toleave the EU on October 31 regardless of whether it has a transition deal topreserve trade arrangements with the bloc.
Critics said that would badly disrupt the flow of goods with the EU -its largest trade partner. However, advocates of Brexit have long argued thatone of the biggest benefits of leaving the EU will be an ability to strike newbilateral trade deals rather than relying on agreements with the EU.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) includes Brunei,Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore,Thailand and Vietnam.-VNA
VNA
