Economic progress prioritised ahead of Asean Summit in August
Senior economists from Asean member states followed up on a range of economic initiatives during the Senior Economic Officials Meeting (SEOM) held in Indonesia from July 11-16 and will present the results to the Asean Economic Ministers’ meeting next month.
The officials are also preparing to meet with non-Asean countries such as Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, Hong Kong, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Russia, the UK and the US.
Among the key economic issues that will be jointly promoted under Indonesia's chairmanship for approval from the Asean Economic Ministers are digitalisation, environmental concerns, and strengthening Asean’s important basic industrial structures. They include the results of the study on the Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA) of Asean, which will be presented for negotiations and signing this September.
The development of Asean's Carbon Neutrality Strategy, which aims to foster economic opportunities in innovation, low-carbon investments, create new jobs, and formulate an economic ministerial statement on Asean's infrastructure projects was also approved.
Preparations for meetings with negotiating partners are now underway, with discussions likely to cover the negotiations on the Asean-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA), which is scheduled to be signed by Asean's economic ministers this year, as well as the progress of FTA negotiations with China, South Korea, India, and Canada. Also on the agenda are plans for economic cooperation, trade, and other matters, such as the Asean-Japan Economic Cooperation Plan marking the 50th anniversary of their relations and elevating economic and trade cooperation with the US, the UK, the EU and Russia, with a focus on the digital economy, environmental technologies and services, finance, and flexible supply chains.
The SEOM meeting, the last one of the year, defined important directions for ASEAN, particularly regarding the negotiation of the DEFA, which aims to standardise digital trade criteria to increase the value of e-commerce in Asean from US$105 billion this year to U$300 billion in 2025, and eventually to U$1.2 trillion.
In the first five months of this year, the trade between Thailand and Asean was valued at US$49.65 billion, 5.5% lower than the same period last year. Thailand's exports to Asean were valued at $28.04 billion, while its imports from the bloc were valued at $21.61 billion. Major export and import markets include Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore, and the Philippines.
