AEM Meetings: 26thAEM-CER Consultations And Related Meetings Held

Union Minister for Investment and Foreign Economic Relations U Aung Naing Oo joined the 26thAEM-CER Consultations, the 27th AEM-Japan Consultations, the 1stAEM-United Kingdom Consultations and the 9thEAS Economic Ministers’ Meeting which were held via videoconferencing started at 9:00 am from the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations, Nay Pyi Taw.

The Meetings were attended by the Economic Ministers from ASEAN Member States, Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Russia, Korea, United Kingdom, and United States, ASEAN Secretary-General and senior officials. The Meetings were co-chaired by Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Minister of Finance and Economy II of Brunei Darussalam Dato Dr. Amin Liew Abdullah and Economic Ministers from the respective dialogue partners.

The 26thAEM-CER Consultation was held in the morning.

At the Meeting, Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment of Australia Dan Tehan MP and Minister of State for Trade and Export Growth of New Zealand Phil Twyford, and ASEAN Economic Ministers exchanged views on the matters of implementation of agreement establishing the ASEAN- Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area and upgrade negotiation for this agreement.

Moreover, the Ministers discussed the matters on the Chile’s interest in joining the AANZFTA Agreement.

At the Meeting, Union Minister expressed that the public-private collaboration should be enhanced for promoting the utilization of AANZFTA Agreement in the region. In addition, he encouraged to make efforts in the finalization of upgrading the negotiations of AANZFTA Agreement by September 2022.

He also welcomed Chile’s interest to join the AANZFTA Agreement and extended appreciation for the support of Australia and New Zealand in the economic cooperation support program. The 27th AEM-Japan Consultations was also held in the afternoon.

At the Meeting, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan KAJIYAMA Hiroshi, and ASEAN Economic Ministers exchanged views on the implementation of ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership, economic activities in 2021 and Japan’s proposal on “ASEAN-Japan Priority for Innovative and Sustainable Growth”.

In his intervention, Union Minister welcomed the progress of ASEAN-Japan 10-Year Strategic Economic Partnership Cooperation Roadmap (2016-2025) and ASEAN-Japan economic cooperation including Japan-ASEAN Economic Resilience Action plan. He also welcomed Japan’s proposal on “ASEAN-Japan Priority for Innovative and Sustainable Growth” and highlighted the key areas under the proposal in the context of post COVID-19 growth.

At the 1st ASEAN - UK Economic Ministers’ Consultation, Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss MP, Secretary of State for International Trade, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and ASEAN Economic Ministers exchanged views on the progress of the ASEAN-UK Economic Cooperation (2020-2021) and endorsed the ASEAN-UK Joint Declaration on Future Economic Cooperation.

In the meeting, the Union Minister welcomed the establishment of ASEAN-UK Dialogue Partnership and expressed thanks to United Kingdom for contribution in mitigating the economic impact of Covid-19 and towards the resilience, sustainable and inclusive economic growth in the region.

He also underlined the potential contribution of cooperation areas under ASEAN-UK Joint Declaration on Future Economic Cooperation for balancing the regional development. At the 9th EAS Economic Ministers’ Meeting, the Economic Ministers from the ASEAN Member States, Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, the Russia Federation and the United States exchanged the views on the impacts of Covid-19 to regional and global economy and the measures taken by EAS participating Countries to mitigate the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, and also discussed on the paper “Supply Chain Resilience and Post Pandemic Recovery in EAS Region” submitted by Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA). At the Meeting, the Union Minister shared the view on the importance of the cooperation activities in trade and digital economy and sustainable development under the work programme of the post COVID-19 economic recovery in East Asia.

The Ministers adopted the Joint Media Statements of the respective meetings. Deputy Minister and Senior Officials from the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations also joined the Meetings.