The week of the 42nd Economic Ministers’ Meeting, the 4th ASEAN Economic Council (AEC) Meeting and related meetings was wrapped up yesterday in Vietnam’s seaport city of Da Nang with many positive outcomes.
ASEAN Ministers discussed orientations and commitments for the bloc’s economic cooperation as well as for the realization of visions adopted by senior leaders to build the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015.
The misters reviewed the construction of the ASEAN Economic Community in 2008-2009, identified the major fields for the 2010-2011 period, and thoroughly analyzed challenges, opportunities and solutions.
They confirmed the determination to convert ASEAN into a unified market and a common production base.
ASEAN ministers also conducted 13 consultations with partners, including China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, India, the EU and Russia, to review the implementation of free trade agreements and discuss measures to accelerate the negotiation for new agreements.
On the occasion, the first CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) economic ministers’ meeting was held on August 28 to map out measures to narrow the development gap between these countries and other ASEAN members.
On August 27, the ministerial level meeting on ASEAN Mekong Basin Development Cooperation (AMBDC) was also opened with the participation of representatives from ASEAN members and China. To date, 47 AMBDC projects have been implemented.
Source: VGP