ASEAN economic ministers determined to form single market by 2015

Economic ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) convened here Wednesday for their 42nd annual meeting and the 4th ASEAN Economic Community Council's meeting, expressing their will and determination to reach the goal of establishing a single market in the region by 2015.

At these meetings, the ministers vowed to continue building the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and discussed measures to promote the implementation process, said Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang at a press briefing here Wednesday to brief the outcome of the meetings.

The ministers reaffirmed their resolve to implement timely and substantively the measures in the AEC Blueprint to ensure the credibility and integrity of ASEAN economic integration with the realization of a single market and production base in 2015, said a joint media statement issued by the ASEAN economic ministers on Wednesday.

At the 42nd ASEAN Economic Ministers' Meeting, the ministers were pleased to note the realization of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) on Jan. 1 this year as duties on 99.65 percent of all tariff lines under the Common Effective Preferential Tariff Scheme for the AFTA have been eliminated, said the statement.

They vowed to eliminate all forms of non-tariff barriers to maximize the benefits from tariff reduction and reaffirmed the commitment to promote trade facilitation measures for free flow of goods in the region.

Regarding services, much progress in integration of trade in this area was also noted. The expected endorsement of a protocol to implement the eighth package of service commitments in October this year is believed to lead to improved market access for services suppliers in ASEAN in various modes of supply, according to the statement.

During the meeting, the ministers also agreed on the need to sustain private sector interest in the AEC process, said Hoang.

They attached the importance of public-private sector engagement to ensuring greater mutual synergies in the implementation of regional development and integration measures, he said.

Hoang said that the ministers realized the necessity to bringing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) into the mainstream of ASEAN economic integration.

Therefore, a strategic action plan for ASEAN SMEs development in the 2010-2015 period was endorsed by the ministers on Wednesday to reach that aim.

At the meeting, the ministers welcomed signs of an improving global economic environment as well. They forecast ASEAN's gross domestic product (GDP) growth is over 5 percent this year, compared with 1.5 percent in 2009, according to the statement.

ASEAN currently groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.