The 33rd economic ministers meeting of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) opened in Vietnamese capital this morning.
Over the past days, ASEAN economic ministers held consultative
meetings with their dialogue counterpart from China, Japan, South
Korea, European Union and the United States on economic
cooperation, focusing on trade facilitation, investment and
technology transfer.
The meeting will call for the continued implementation of the
Common Effective Preferential Tariffs to actualize the ASEAN Free
Trade Area, expand investment relations and narrow down the
development gap in ASEAN and between it and other regions in the
world.
Issues on technical assistance to the four new ASEAN member
countries Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, will also be
discussed.
The 32nd ASEAN Economic Ministers' Meeting was held in Chiang Mai,
Thailand in October, 2000.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
(eastday.com
09/16/2001)