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Regional economic issues must be prioritized
Trade ministers of ASEAN member states expect economic issues to top the agenda of a meeting of the ASEAN leaders in November, with the association set to launch a single economic community at year-end
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rade ministers of ASEAN member states expect economic issues to top the agenda of a meeting of the ASEAN leaders in November, with the association set to launch a single economic community at year-end.
Malaysia's International Trade and Industry Minister Dato' Sri Mustapa Mohamed said during the 47th ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) meeting that there was an urgent need for member countries to make more space for discussion of economic issues during the summit.
'In light of the current economic situation and how it is affecting all countries, including China, we feel it's important for our heads of state and governments to pay more attention to economic issues when they gather in Kuala Lumpur [for the summit],' said Mustapa after chairing meetings between ASEAN and a number of trading partners on Monday.
Mustapa, who chaired the 47th AEM meeting from Aug. 22 to 25, implied that economic issues were increasingly important, affecting relations between countries as much as political issues.
ASEAN ' which consists of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines ' aims to kick off a single market by year-end, with less developed nations Cambodia, Lao, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV) expected to fully join the integration by 2018.
Dubbed the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), the single market will form a giant block of 620 million people with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of US$2.7 trillion.
The community is also expected to enable free movement of goods, services and people within the region.
In a further development, ASEAN trade ministers agreed to upgrade free trade areas (FTA) with East Asian trading partners China, Japan and South Korea.
'We're reviewing FTAs with the trade partners, such as those related to rules of origin for exporters,' said the Indonesian trade minister's adviser for trade and diplomacy, Sondang Aggraini.
One example, Sondang said, was plans to ease the issuance of certificates of origin, with ASEAN exporters willing to sell their products to trading partners allowed to process the certificates themselves.
ASEAN and China have agreed to boost two-way trade to $1 trillion by 2020. The association has also inked a deal with South Korea to raise bilateral trade value to $200 billion in the same time frame.
