ASEAN’s economic meeting pledged on Tuesday to support the association’s
new members in order to narrow development gaps between the member countries.
“ASEAN gives us the privilege of
assistance in order to accelerate our economies and to narrow the gap among the
countries,” Laos Minister of Industry and Commerce Nam Viyaketh told reporters
on the sidelines of the 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting as quoted by
english.news.cn.
ASEAN’s original members are
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Membership was
later expanded to include Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
The economic ministers meeting
began in Siem Reap, Cambodia, on Monday and will run until Aug. 31, focusing on
efforts to narrow the economic gap between ASEAN’s members and boost equitable
economic development in the region.
Addressing the opening session on
Monday, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said that the development gap among
ASEAN members remained huge and the bloc needed to double its efforts to
promote further growth and improve equitable distribution of the fruits of that
growth at both national and regional levels.
Ahead of the meeting, the
economic ministers also held on Sunday the 10th dialogue between the ASEAN
economic ministers and the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ABAC), discussing
efforts to boost public-private sector partnerships in order to achieve the
ASEAN Economic Community by 2015.
The ABAC was established in
November 2001 in Brunei, and was inaugurated at the ASEAN Secretariat in
Jakarta in April 2003, as the primary vehicle for raising feedback and guidance
from the private sectors in order to enhance efforts to create an integrated
and competitive economy.
There will also be meetings on
the 26th ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) Council and on the 15th ASEAN Investment
Area (AIA) Council, also in Cambodia.
According to the official
schedule, a consultation meeting between ASEAN Economic Ministers, director
general of the World Intellectual Property Organization Francis Gurry, and the
ASEAN-US Business Summit as well as Cambodia’s Garment and Textile Expo, would
also take place.
Separately in Jakarta, the
Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry’s general director for ASEAN, I Gusti Agung
Wesaka Puja, said that more developed economic relations among ASEAN countries
would also boost development in other aspects in the region, such as security
and culture.
“We will continue to build on our
previous meeting in Bali. We will further partner with country members in order
to develop economic development within the region,” Puja told The Jakarta Post
on Tuesday.
Margareth S. Aritonang
Business & Investment Opportunities
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