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ASEAN, APEC agree to bolster trade ties

The ASEAN secretariat has set up an initiative to boost trade between ASEAN countries and members of the Asia Pacific Economic (APEC) forum.
The ASEAN secretariat has set up aninitiative to boost trade between ASEAN countries and members of theAsia Pacific Economic (APEC) forum.

The initiative to facilitate trade between the Association of SoutheastAsian Nations (ASEAN) and APEC countries was part of the cooperationprogrammes initiated by senior executives of both secretariat officeswho met in the ASEAN Secretariat office in Jakarta on Nov. 12, theASEAN secretariat said on its website.

“We agreed that the synergy between ASEAN and APEC will open a lot ofopportunities for collaboration and cooperation,” ASEAN SecretaryGeneral Surin Pitsuwan was quoted as saying.

Indonesia’s Antara news agency reported the same day that besidestrade, the two secretariat offices of ASEAN and APEC have identifiedother sectors to work with, including support for small- andmedium-sized enterprises (SMEs), disaster mitigation, standards andcompliance, supply chain connectivity, health and project management./.
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