Leaders of ASEAN member countries on Oct. 24 pledged to make joint efforts to ensure food security, narrow their development gap and accelerate integration.

At the 15th Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Hua Hin, Thailand, the heads of state and government from the bloc’s 10 member countries emphasised the need to provide all available sources and technologies to raise food yields and work out proper regulations to ensure transparency on the food market.

The leaders assigned ministers and officials of the concerned ministries and agencies of the member countries to set up ASEAN+3 food reserves for the region.

They noted with pleasure preparations for the enforcement of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) scheduled for January 1, 2010.

The leaders also agreed that the effective implementation of the ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement (ACIA) would turn the region into an attractive destination for investors outside the bloc and encourage the flow of investment within the member countries.

According to the ASEAN Chair’s statement, the leaders spent much time on discussing the global financial-economic crisis, stressing the necessity to implement more stimulus packages in their respective countries to maintain recovery of the economies.

Alongside with developing human resources to improve competitiveness in the world market, the leaders proposed that the member nations speed up the reform of regulations in a move to prevent the recurrence of crisis in the financial and banking systems.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam./.