The 37th ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) meeting kicked off in Vientiane Wednesday, centering on specific measures to realize the ASEAN Economic Community by 2020 and the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), accelerate the establishment of free trade areas with the 10-member block's partners, and lure more foreign direct investment inside and outside the regional grouping.

"This meeting is of great significance as it provides not only a platform for us to further lay a firmer foundation and enhancement of the internal integration, but also a forum to identify measures to overcome challenges that we are facing now and will be facing in the future such as the hike in the price of oil and to strengthen ASEAN partnership over and above trade liberalization," Lao Prime Minister Bounnhang Vorachith addressed at the 37th AEM's opening ceremony.

He called for continued implementation of the Vientiane Action Program (VAP), considering it "the first important step towards the realization of an ASEAN Community" by 2020 as targeted, the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), and the ASEAN Framework Agreement for the Integration of Priority Sectors.

"It is important for ASEAN to further increase their concerted efforts to further deepen and broaden regional economic integration. In fact, the experience has shown that the more we are interdependent and economically integrated with the rest of the world, the more we are to become the attractive center for trade, investment and tourism," the prime minister stated.

He suggested specific measures to boost regional economic integration and cooperation as well as narrow the gap between members of the ASEAN.

"This meeting should explore the possibility of setting up a fund to help small- and medium-sized enterprises have better access to resources to meet the objectives of the 11 priority areas of integration... We have to assist each other and work together in the area of human development, including entrepreneurship and infrastructure development through technical cooperation such as training in information technology, improving transport and communication networks, and expanding cooperation in business and services."

Along with the efforts to strengthen the intra-ASEAN cooperation, the block should further enhance the partnership with its dialogue partners, he stressed. "This can be done through the process of negotiations on comprehensive economic partnerships, which should cover not only free trade areas for goods, but also the expansion of investment and tourism."

More importantly, ASEAN should determine common position and harmonized policy on various issues, which should ensure greater benefits for the block, promote and expand trade with other regions, and secure a friendly and open global economic environment, the prime minister noted.

During the 37th AEM, economic ministers and officials at ministerial levels from members of the 10-member ASEAN are expected to explore ways of speeding up regional economic integration and cooperation, especially the realization of the ASEAN Economic Community by 2020 the AFTA by 2015, as well as negotiations for free trade areas between ASEAN and such partners as China, Japan, South Korea and India.

They are likely to review the progress of carrying out the Framework Agreement for the Integration of Priority Sectors and its protocols inked in November 2004, a milestone in ASEAN economic cooperation.

ASEAN countries have agreed to remove tariffs on 85 percent of the products in the 11 priority sectors, namely agro-based product, air travel, electronics, e-ASEAN, fishery, healthcare, tourism, textile and apparel, rubber-based product, automotive product and wood-based product, by 2007 for Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand (ASEAN-6), and 2012 for Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV).

These deadlines are three years earlier than the deadlines of 2010 for the ASEAN-6 and 2015 for the CLMV under the AFTA which has been realized effectively.

With regard to ASEAN-6, up to 98.99 percent of products in the inclusion list under the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) scheme are now in the tariff bracket of 0-5 percent. For the CLMV countries, 87.81 percent of the products they trade in the region have been moved into the list, and tariffs on 71.05 percent of these items have already been slashed to between zero and five percent.

The economic ministers are also expected to explore new ways of luring more foreign direct investment inside and outside the block, and boosting cooperation with its partners in the priority sectors.

The 10-member ASEAN has a population of about 500 million, a total area of 4.5 million square kilometers, a combined gross domestic product of US$737 billion, and a total trade of US$720 billion.

(Xinhua News Agency September 28, 2005)