ASEAN senior economic officials concluded their meeting Wednesday in Kuala Lumpur and finalized several documents including one on the establishment and implementation of a customs facilitating initiative.

The documents will be signed by the 10-member bloc's economic ministers at the upcoming 11th ASEAN Summit slated for Dec. 12.

The initiative, called the ASEAN Single Window (ASW), is the single most important customs initiative that will ensure expeditious clearance of goods and reduce the cost of doing business in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), which groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The ASW, whose draft model had been completed at the ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting last October in Vientiane, Laos, will facilitate the speedy clearance of imports through electronic processing of trade documents at national and regional levels.

A pilot implementation of the initiative was targeted by the end of this year for Thailand and the Philippines, and full implementation by 2008, at the latest, for ASEAN-6 (Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Brunei) and by 2012 for Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

Director-general of Laos' Foreign Ministry's economic affairs department Bounsom Phommavihane, who chaired Wednesday's meeting, said their discussion was fruitful and everything was smooth.

Malaysia will host the 11th ASEAN Summit and related summits from Dec. 12-14. The ASEAN Summit, an annual meeting held on a rotational basis by the country which holds the Chairmanship of the ASEAN Standing Committee, began with the Senior Official's Meeting on Wednesday, which will be followed with the Ministerial Meeting from Friday to Sunday.

Source: Xinhua