Senior economic officials from the 10 ASEAN member states and delegates have agreed on the eight priority deliverables for the ASEAN Economic Community that Laos presented at the Preparatory SEOM Meeting in Vientiane yesterday.
“They agree to propose the eight priority deliverables to the 48th ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting (48th AEM) for consideration and approval, and for additional advice,” Deputy Director General of the Foreign Trade Policy Department, Mr. Saysana Sayakone, said at the meeting.
The priority deliverables presented by Laos are theASEAN Trade Facilitation Framework, ASEAN Food Safety Regulatory Framework, ASEAN Institutional Framework on Access to Finance for MSMEs, Enabling Environment for SME Establishment and Development, Pakxe Declaration on Ecotourism, ASEAN Sustainable Tourism Award, Guidelines for Special Economic Zone Development and Collaboration, and the Master Plan for CLMV Development.
The plans were approved at the ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Retreat held recently in Thailand.
The Preparatory SEOM Meeting, which runs over two days, is mainly to discuss and prepare the documents that will be presented to the 48th AEM tomorrow.
Senior economic officials from the 10 ASEAN member states convened in Vientiane on August 1 and 2 to prepare for the 48th AEM and related events.
The meeting is being chaired by the Director General of the Minist ry of Industry and Commerce’s Foreign Trade Policy Department, Dr Laohoua Cheuching, who is also an ASEAN senior economic official.
All the preparatory document work will be reported to the 30th Meeting of ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) Council, the 19th ASEANn Investment Area (AIA) Council, CLMV Economic Ministers’ Meeting, the Ministerial Meeting between Lower Mekong Subregion countries and Japan (Mekong-Japan Meeting), and the meetings between the ASEAN Economic Ministers and the dialogue partners.
The 48th AE M and its related meetings run from August 1-6. Th e preparatory meeting of ASEAN Senior Economic Officials is prior to the meeting.
The opening ceremony will take place on August 3 in the presence of Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith.
Alongside the AEM, the 13th AEM-Republic of Korea Consultations, 19th AEM+3 Consultations, 21st AEM-Closer Economic Relations Consultations, AEM-United States Trade Representatives, 5th AEM-Canada Consultations and the 15th AEM-Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China will be held on August 4. On August 5, there will be the 5th AEM-Russia Consultations, 4th East Asia Summit Economic Ministers’ Meeting and 4th Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Participating Countries’ Ministerial Meeting.
The AEM-ASEAN Business Advisory Council Consultations, 8th Mekong-Japan Economic Ministers, 13th AEM-India Consultations, 1st AEM-Hong Kong, China Consultations, 22th AEM-Minister for Economic, Trade and Industry Consultations, and 8th Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia and Vietnam Economic Ministers’ Meetings will be held on August 6.
Source: Vientiane Times
