Cambodia’s tourism sector has hailed the new bloc-to-bloc Comprehensive Air Transport Agreement (CATA) between the Asean and European Union (EU) which is expected to boost travel between the two regions.

The agreement, inked by the officials of the two blocs during the 28th Asean Transport Ministers’ Meeting in Bali, Indonesia, last week, allows airlines in both the blocs to operate as many flights as possible between the regions. It has also nullified nearly 140 different bilateral air transport pacts signed in the past by the countries in the two regions, replacing them with a single set of rules and reducing red tape to a great extent.

For the tourism industry in Cambodia, hit hard by Covid-19 and the absence of Chinese travellers, the agreement has thrown open a new opportunity to attract more tourists from the European region. EU has currently 27 members and Asean comprises 10 countries and together the two regions are home to over one billion people.

Thourn Sinan, Cambodia Chapter Chairman of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), told Khmer Times yesterday that the agreement is a welcome relief for the travel and tourism industry in the Kingdom which has been reeling under the pandemic.

“This is great news for all of us in the industry. The agreement will boost travel between the two continents for the benefit of each other. EU needs Asean for many reasons and Asean also needs EU for many reasons as well,” Sinan said.

Asean, he also pointed out, is poised to take over many of the production lines from China and increase supply lines to EU, especially in the wake of the ongoing tensions between the US and China, necessitating more business travels as well between the two regions.

EU Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean said CATA will support the aviation sector’s recovery after Covid-19 and restore the much-needed connectivity. She added that the agreement provides a platform for the EU and Asean to collaborate on “economically, socially and environmentally sustainable aviation.”

The agreement also provides a way forward for the EU to support its airlines facing stiff competition from the Gulf carriers such as Emirates and Qatar Airways that carry large numbers of passengers between the two regions.

The EU is also Asean’s 3rd largest trading partner, accounting for around 11 percent of the trade in Asean. The Southeast Asia region, as a whole, is also the EU’s third largest trading partner with bilateral trade reaching $185 billion in 2020.

Dialogue between the EU and Asean also has a history of 40 years. The European Economic Community (EEC) was the first entity to establish ties with Asean in 1972. The Asean-EEC Cooperation Agreement was signed in March 1980.

In 2012, the EU became the first regional organisation to accede to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) — an important milestone, boosting the EU’s political and security engagement with the region.