THE US and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) signed a trade and investment framework agreement recently.

The US is hoping to take its relationship with the Asian grouping to the next level, the superpower's trade representative, Susan Schwab, said.

Ms Schwab said the pact would generate more trade between the two areas and help to bring more US investment to Asean nations.

"The Asean region is a very high priority not just for US commercial and economic ties, but for the overall geopolitical interests and commitments of the US," she said at the signing of the agreement in Kuala Lumpur.

Under the terms of the agreement, the two parties will form a ministerial dialogue, which will determine the steps for deepening trade and investment relations, according to a Bloomberg report.

While not confirming whether or not a free trade agreement between Asean and the US was on the cards sometime in the future, Ms Schwab did say that this latest agreement certainly represented a "positive step towards that direction".

"Presumably there will be more bilateral FTAs over time and at some point potentially a regional or a knitting together of bilaterals," she said.