The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok by the five original Member Countries Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Brunei Darussalam joined on 8 January 1984, Vietnam on 28 July 1995, Lao PDR and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, and Cambodia on 30 April 1999. Hence, ASEAN includes some of the most successful and dynamic economies in Asia and the World, but is also a very heterogeneous group of countries ranging from Singapore (one of the four Asian Tigers and by now a developed country) to Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar (part of the group for least developed countries or LDCs).

The EU and ASEAN enjoy strong commercial links. ASEAN trade with the EU has increased ten-fold since the early 1990s. The EU is now ASEAN’s third largest trading partner, accounting for 12.5 % of ASEAN trade. Significantly, the EU is ASEAN’s second largest export market after the US. Also on investment, ASEAN remains a preferred destination for EU companies, in spite of the slight decrease in favour of China. ASEAN is the EU's fifth largest trading partner, accounting for approximately 14% of trade.

Trade and investment relations between the two regions are asymmetrical, implying that there is a relatively high degree of trade complementarity in a number of industries, with ASEAN being relatively more involved in manufacturing and the EU having a comparative advantage in knowledge based services.

Although EU-ASEAN economic cooperation dates back to the early 1970s, the formal (still existing) Co-operation Agreement between the EC and certain member countries of ASEAN is dating from 1980. In July 2003, the European Commission adopted a Communication on a “New Partnership with South East Asia”, setting out a comprehensive strategy for future relations with the countries of the region. A key initiative within this strategy is the Trans-Regional EU-ASEAN Trade Initiative (TREATI), aimed at expanding trade and investment ties and providing a framework for dialogue and regulatory co-operation on various trade facilitation, market access, and investment issues between the two regions. It also acts as a forum for the exchange of experience on regional economic integration.

In addition the EU is looking to establish (bilateral) Partnership and Co-operation Agreements (PCAs) with a number of individual ASEAN member countries. Negotiations for such PCAs are currently underway with Thailand and Singapore, and have started with Indonesia. Malaysia, the Philippines, and Brunei have also shown an interest. Vietnam is keen to upgrade its existing agreement into a more comprehensive political framework.

In 2005 Commissioner Mandelson and ASEAN Economic Ministers set up the Vision Group on EU-ASEAN Economic Partnership, with the main objective to investigate the feasibility of new objectives, including an FTA. The Vision Goup final report as published in May 2006 and paved the way for formal FTA negotiations, which were launched in May 2007.