Saturday, 15 August 2009

ASEAN economic ministers start annual meeting in Thailand+

Aug 14, 2009

BANGKOK, Aug. 14 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Economic ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations met here Friday to discuss trade issues, focusing on economic development in the region and the road to becoming a single market and production base.

In the opening speech of the 41st ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Korbsak Sabhavasu said he believed that ASEAN could achieve the goal of the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015 with strong cooperation among members.

"This would undoubtedly create a true single market and production base where our goods, services and investment can flow freely across the region and benefit our people," he said.

Korbsak also called on ASEAN to strengthen its own institutional mechanism under the ASEAN charter, establish the body as the economic center of Asia, and use resources creatively.

Korbsak later told reporters at a press conference that he was calling on ASEAN to meet more frequently in order to tighten economic cooperation and resolve economic problems among members when needed.

He also mentioned that the global economic and financial crisis will have a limited effect on the ASEAN economy, saying the region would recover in two years.

By Jan. 1 next year, the six original ASEAN countries -- Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore -- are committed to dismantling import tariffs on most commodities within the region.

The other four members -- Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam -- will have to do so by 2015.

They also set up intra-region liberalization plans on trade in services and investment as a principal aim of the group to achieve a free flow of goods, services, investment, capital and skilled labor within the region.

The ASEAN ministers are scheduled to meet with counterparts from China, Japan and South Korea on Saturday where they are expected to discuss an ongoing feasibility study of a region-wide free trade agreement covering the 13 countries.

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