ASEAN economic ministers on Wednesday in Vientiane reiterated their commitments to realize the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) despite regional and global challenges, agreeing to adopt a dynamic approach using prevailing mechanisms to speed up regional integration.

"The meeting agreed that tourism and air travel can be integrated at a faster pace, before 2005. In doing so, it would also facilitate ASEAN's ongoing FTA negotiations with dialogue partners," Lao Commerce Minister Soulivong Daravong said at a press conference after the 37th ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) meeting.

Economic ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) called on all relevant officials to spare no effort in taking measures to realize AEC by 2020 as targeted, partly by stepping up integrations of priority sectors, he said, adding that they also urged the officials to rapidly define new sectors for and levels of integration after the integration of the 11 defined sectors is completed by the end of 2007.

Earlier, 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, and 2012 for Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam (CLMV).

At the 37th AEM, the ministers said that the ASEAN Single Window (ASW), the single most important initiative of customs which will ensure expeditious clearance of goods and reduce the cost of doing business in the block, would be inked at the 11th ASEAN Summit slated for December in Malaysia.

"The pilot implementation of ASW by Thailand and the Philippines is now targeted by the end of this year. It's envisaged that ASW will be fully implemented by 2008," the Lao commerce minister said.

Underscoring the importance of trade in services liberalization, the ministers agreed that 2015 shall be the end-date for the liberalization of all services sectors, and that the waiver of the 30-percent national equity requirement under the ASEAN Industrial Cooperation (AICO) Scheme will be extended until Dec. 31, 2006.

Besides, the ministers welcomed the creation of the ASEAN-EU ( Europe Union) Vision Group which has been given the mandate to study and submit recommendations on the future of ASEAN-EU economic relationship, including the possibility of an ASEAN-EU free trade area.

The meeting welcomed the establishment of formal economic links between senior economic officials between ASEAN and Canada and the proposed engagement of Russian senior economic officials in regular consultations.

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 737 billion US dollars, and a total trade of 720 billion dollars.

Source: Xinhua