At the 37th ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) meeting, which opened Wednesday in Vientiane, the delegates reached broad consensus on measures to be taken to accelerate regional economic cooperation and integration as well as forge ties with non-block members.

To attain better coordination among ASEAN sectoral bodies, government agencies, industry clubs and private sector groups, the ministers agreed that the Consultative Meeting on the Priority Sectors (COPS) should be convened on a regular basis to put forth more effective measures.

At the two-day meeting in July 2005 in Indonesia, COPS recommended to conduct regular consultations among working bodies, government agencies and the private sector within the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to better improve coordination, strengthen implementation capacities of member countries to be able to commit to the integration process and establish realistic timelines for various measures to be credible to markets.

At the 37th AEM, the delegates highlighted the need to adopt a strategic and dynamic approach using existing mechanisms to fast track acceleration of regional integration.

To ensure swift clearance of goods and lower cost of doing business in ASEAN, the ministers agreed that the ASEAN Single Window (ASW) should be signed at the 11th ASEAN Summit to be held in Malaysia this December.

Attaching importance to beefing up economic relations with non- ASEAN members, the ministers noted the developments on the block's negotiations on the establishment of free trade areas with dialogue partners, including China, South Korea, Japan, India, Australia and New Zealand.

ASEAN recorded gross domestic product growth of 6 percent in 2004, up from 5.4 percent in 2003, mainly due to robust private consumption and investment. Meanwhile, foreign direct investment flows in the region increased to over 25 billion US dollars despite regional and global challenges.

Last year, ASEAN's trade exceeded the 1 trillion dollars mark for the first time. Its total exports rose by nearly 20.6 percent to 550.6 billion dollars and imports surged by over 26.6 percent to 492.3 billion dollars. Japan, the United States, the European Union, China and South Korea remained the block's biggest trading partners.

The 10-member ASEAN has a population of about 500 million, a total area of 4.5 million square kilometers, a combined GDP of 737 billion US dollars, and a total trade of 720 billion dollars.

Source: Xinhua