This is a paper written by Alfredo C. Robles, Jr., Professor of International Studies, in cooperation with the Institute for Popular Democracy (IPD). Robles is author of THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF INTERREGIONAL RELATIONS: ASEAN AND THE EU (Ashgate, 2004), THE ASIA-EUROPE MEETING: THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF INTERREGIONALISM (Routledge,2008), and "EU FTA Negotiations with SADC and Mercosur: Integration into the World Economy or Market Access for EU Firms?" THIRD WORLD QUARTERLY, 29:1 (February 2008), pp.181-97.

On August 25-27, 2008, the Monitoring Sustainability of Globalization-Malaysia, together with the Jubilee South-Asia Pacific Movement on Debt and Development ( JS-APMDD) and the EU-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Campaign Network convened the ASEAN Labor Caucus on the EU-ASEAN FTA in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia .Around 27 trade justice activists coming mostly from the labor groups and movements in Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand gathered together during the ASEAN Labor Caucus.