Two-thirds of the world was committed to multilateralism and recognised the benefits of free trade, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Friday, commenting after the Asia-Europe summit in Brussels.

"The summit shows that countries have gathered from Europe and Asia who want a rules-based trading and have pledged themselves to multilateralism," she said, adding it was an important signal given that Europe and Asia represented almost two-thirds of world GDP, trade and population.

"Our theme is about creating connections, for example through free trade agreements... We can show that it's about creating win-win situations, making it clear that when one profits, the other also profits."

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.