 The European Union and Southeast Asian states agreed on Thursday to boost political and economic cooperation, but military-ruled Myanmar remained an obstacle to a full-blown free trade pact. Foreign ministers meeting in the German city of Nuremberg adopted a declaration on Enhanced Partnership in which they agreed to cooperate more closely in security, energy, environmental and development issues. It included a pledge to promote cooperation against terrorism, money laundering, cyber crime and drug trafficking as well as to work more closely on tackling climate change. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he was impressed by the way relations between the two sides had developed, not only on economic and trade issues, but also in politics. "I was very, very happy that a group of countries which are not China or India, but are an important group of countries, do have such a communality of thinking with the European Union," he told reporters. Analysts say ASEAN (the Association of South East Asian Nations) regards better ties with Europe as a way to balance China's growing might and it also wants to emulate the European Union's success by establishing its own single market by 2015. The EU is looking to tap the potential of a 10-nation region with a population of 500 million via a free trade pact, but this has been held up by ASEAN's insistence on including Myanmar in any deal. The European Union has maintained sanctions on Myanmar since its military rulers ignored a 1990 election victory for the main pro-democracy party. EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Walder said the EU wanted to see ASEAN countries press for improvement of human rights in Myanmar, including the release of opposition leader and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. "We want to see Burma/Myanmar change," she said. Pending a full EU-ASEAN trade deal the EU is pursuing bilateral cooperation pacts with Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and eventually Vietnam. "We have clearly said that we would like to go for a free trade agreement between the two blocs (but) we will have to start working with the different countries," Ferrero-Waldner said. While the agreement with Indonesia could be finalised within a month, issues remain to be resolved with Singapore and the military takeover in Thailand has imposed a block there. The EU aims for a similar pact with Vietnam, where it highlights human rights problems as well as trade frictions. EU officials stress though they have a rights dialogue with Hanoi that does not exist with Myanmar.