PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA: ASEAN leaders can expect their discussions
in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh to be positive when they kick off their
meetings on Sunday.
Foreign affairs and trade
ministers have decided that ASEAN focuses on the challenges it faces and not
let other issues sidetrack the grouping.
Top on the agenda of ASEAN's
challenges is its economic community target of 2015 and Singapore's Trade and
Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang said the grouping is progressing steadily and
monitoring the progress.
Mr Lim said that the 2015 target
is still on though it may not be realistic to assume that everything in the
roadmap would be completed by then.
He believes achieving about 85
per cent of the targets would be good.
Mr Lim said: "We have
prioritised all the actions and at the same time we have looked at new items
that need to be done, because as we implement the plans, some gaps have been
identified.
"We have introduced them
into the plan. We are generally happy. We have decided that now that we have
brought tariffs down to zero, businesses are facing non-tariff measures and
non-tariff barriers. So they are now making a concerted effort to address some
of these hurdles and obstacles."
One major project highlighted in
the ASEAN economic roadmap, the regional comprehensive economic partnership
(RCEP), will be launched by the leaders.
Ten ASEAN members, Brunei,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand
and Vietnam and their six dialogue partners namely Australia, China, India,
Japan, South Korea and New Zealand created RCEP at last year's ASEAN+6 meeting
in Bali.
Mr Lim said: "The RCEP is a
very major enterprise and the objective is to seek deeper regional integration
and together it is a major enterprise.
"I mean if you look at the
population, the 16 countries constitute almost 45 percent of world population.
If you look at GDP, the 16 countries constitute nearly a third of global GDP,
it's a major effort to bring all 16 countries together into a regional free
trade agreement."
ASEAN's foreign ministers also
had their round of meetings to finalise topics for the summit.
Singapore's Foreign Minister K
Shanmugam reiterated that ASEAN does not want the South China Sea issue to
become the predominant subject of discussions and everybody understood that.
He said: "It was a
relatively muted discussion and I think everyone understands the need to be
restrained, to make sure that we don't make the situation tense and try and
talk about the issue and resolve it between the claimants."
ASEAN leaders will also endorse
the grouping's Human Rights Declaration document, something which the
respective country representatives have worked hard to put together.
In July, when ASEAN's foreign
ministers met for their annual meeting, the grouping had taken a hit to its
credibility after failing to issue a communique.
Mr Shanmugam said the current
summit meetings are in a very business-like environment, with the political
leaders working to take ASEAN forward.
- CNA/ir
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