ASEAN ECONOMIC MINISTERS RETREAT TO FOCUS ON AEC

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 24 (Bernama) -- The 17th Asean Economic Ministers' Retreat from Feb 26-27, in Vientiane, Laos, is expected to review and deliberate on the progress made in the implementation of measures to realise the Asean Economic Community (AEC) by 2015.
In a statement here Thursday, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) said the Ministers will also deliberate on ways to enhance cooperation in areas such as intellectual property rights, competition policy, labour, environment, consumer protection and equitable development within the region.
"The Ministers will discuss the progress in the implementation of the various fee trade agreements with its Dialogue Partners, including
implementation related issues," it added.
MITI Minister Mustapa Mohamed will represent Malaysia at the retreat.
The meeting will at the same time, discuss the future strategic direction of Asean over the next few years, and beyond the AEC 2015 goal.
"A major challenge faced by Asean is to continuously enhance ASEAN's ability to remain a global centre for attracting foreign direct investment (FDI)s," Miti highlighted.
It said the implementation of the AEC Blueprint measures for the first phase of 2008-2009 had been mostly completed at an average of 83.8 per cent.
"There are 140 measures to be implemented under the AEC Bluprint for the second phase covering the period of 2010-2011.
"Two more phases are scheduled to be completed until the target realisation date of 2015," it added.