China supports HK's access to FTA with ASEAN: minister

Xinhua | 2012-8-30

China supports Hong Kong's access to the China-ASEAN Free Trade Zone (FTA) as it facilitates the economic integration of the southeastern Asian nations, said the Chinese Minister of Commerce Chen Deming on Wednesday.

Chen made the remarks when speaking to the media at the sidelines of the on-going 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting in Cambodia's tourist City of Siem Reap.

Chen said that Hong Kong's access to the FTA is listed as one of the widely discussed topics during the ministers' meetings. Some of the ASEAN nations had voiced their desires to initiate the negation about Hong Kong's entrance.

Top U.S. trade official heads to Southeast Asia for talks

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk smiles during an event at the Singapore Management University April 26, 2012. (Credit: Reuters/Tim Chong)

Wed Aug 29, 2012

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk will discuss how the United States can deepen trade ties with fast-growing nations in Southeast Asia in talks this week in Cambodia, U.S. trade officials said.

Kirk will join trade ministers from the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian (ASEAN) at their annual meeting on Thursday and take part in the inaugural ASEAN-U.S. Business Summit focusing on innovation and the digital economy.

His trip is also likely to include a stopover in Vietnam.

Sea row set aside as China, ASEAN seek trade boost

29 August 2012
By Michelle Fitzpatrick (AFP)

SIEM REAP, Cambodia — China and Southeast Asian nations pledged Wednesday to strive for closer economic ties, setting aside regional tensions over a territorial row in the resource-rich South China Sea.

Trade between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) jumped to over $200 billion in the first seven months of 2012, up nine percent year-on-year, Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming said during a meeting with regional economic ministers in the Cambodian tourist hub of Siem Reap.

The business relationship between ASEAN and China was "particularly important" amid global economic gloom, he said, adding that both sides have "a solid basis for cooperation" and "bright prospects".

Travel agents make bookings for tourists at Keness Travel Co Ltd in Phnom Penh last week. Photograph: Pha Lina/Phnom Penh Post

Monday, 27 August 2012
Justine Drennan
The Phnom Penh Post

The vision regional leaders have for an ASEAN Economic Community by 2015 may become clearer after this week’s Economic Ministers meeting in Siem Reap, but not everyone has a rose-coloured view of what such integration might mean for Cambodia.

“My peers are really concerned that other countries have many more skills and higher study levels,” National Institute of Business student Chan Kakada, 22, said yesterday, ahead of Prime Minister Hun Sen officially opening the meeting today.

Students who have not mastered the English language also fear employment opportunities will fade in the face of stiffer competition for English skills, Kakada, who hopes to one day open her own travel agency, said.

Hun Xen addresses the AEM 44 meeting in Siem Reap

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xsSZqKe6gQ

ASEAN Economic Ministers meeting in Siem Reap

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqq85ngve-s

ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting kicks off

28/08/2012

VietNamNet Bridge – The 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting (AEM 44) kicked off in Siem Reap city, Cambodia on August 27.

ASEAN economic ministers focused their discussions on measures and plans to promote the intra bloc economic integration, build an ASEAN Economic Community by 2015.

The Vietnamese delegation to AEM 44 and related meetings is headed by Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen emphasised the importance of AEM 44 for the bloc, especially in the context of ASEAN’s efforts to implement the goal of forming the ASEAN Community by 2015.

Another chance for ASEAN to get it right

Tue, August 28 2012
Pushpanathan Sundram, Singapore | Opinion
The Jakarta Post

The 44th ASEAN economic ministers meetings currently held in Siem Reap, Cambodia is the first high-level meeting after the debacle at the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in Phnom Penh one month ago where the ministers failed to issue the customary Joint Communiqué over the South China Sea issue, a first since the meeting started 45 years ago.

The economic ministers meetings will provide the much-needed platform for ASEAN to show that they are on sight towards the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the year 2015.

This is especially so since the target for establishing the AEC is less than two and half years away. ASEAN has to redouble its efforts to keep pace with the binding commitments made in the AEC blueprint.

It is now at the mid-point of the implementation of its AEC blueprint and has to take stock, realign and adopt a bolder approach to meet all the outstanding, current and future commitments.

More importantly, it will have to avoid any protectionist stance due to the continuing uncertainty in the global economy. ASEAN will also have to show its collective leadership in managing the competing interests of its partners in East Asia over the form and pace of East Asia-wide trade arrangement.

44th ASEAN Economic Ministers meeting to kick off in Cambodia

SIEM REAP (Xinhua) August 26, 2012 - The 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers meeting and related meetings are ready to kick off here Monday, Cambodian Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh said Sunday.

"Everything is in place and the 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers meeting and related meetings will be opened by Prime Minister Hun Sen tomorrow," he told reporters after playing golf with some of ASEAN Economic Ministers at Angkor Golf Resort.

"The meeting will discuss topics related to trade liberalization and economic cooperation among the 10 ASEAN member states, and the cooperation between ASEAN and its dialogue countries," he said.

Asean officials meet in Cambodia to keep trade flowing in the region

Tuesday, 05 May 2009
Written by Max V. de Leon / Reporter
Business Mirror

SOUTHEAST Asian trade officials are now meeting in Cambodia to find ways to maintain robust exchange of goods in the region, including initiatives that will prod private institutions to offer more trade financing despite the crisis.

Senior Trade Undersecretary Thomas Aquino will also exchange notes with his fellow Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) trade officials on the domestic procedures of each member-state relevant to the enactment of their tariff obligations, and to anticipate the impact of the new Asean Charter on the format and frequency of meetings to help the members save on travel costs.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), in a statement, said trade financing is now a big concern of the Philippine government as local exporters earlier disclosed that banks have become “so cautious nowadays that they are reluctant to lend even to exporters who submit properly documented buyers’ orders.”

“Corroborating the Philippine experience, a G-20 [Group of 20 largest economies] research points out that trade has declined globally because of severely reduced import demand and also because of the sharp fall in trade financing,” the DTI said.

With this, the Philippines will be working with Asean on a related proposal from Singapore to catalogue which export industries have remained strong and which have been severely affected, making it easier for lenders to appreciate the state of the market and the client base.

“Finally, the Philippines expects that the Asean Economic Ministers [AEM] retreat [in Cambodia] will help members streamline the formats and frequency of meetings in the AEM circuit. The newly minted Asean Charter is expected to ultimately reduce the number of Asean meetings. But in these times of adjustment to the Charter, some increase in frequency is temporarily arising,” the DTI said.

The Philippines, the agency added, will participate in examining proposals such as teleconferencing and assigning issue-or sector-specific themes for the meetings under the AEM process.

This could lead to cost savings and ensuring appropriate attendance until the Charter provision on permanent representatives to the Asean kicks in with a strong potential for reducing the global number of meetings, the agency said.