Economic ministers from the 10 ASEAN member nations will convene their annual meeting in Singapore on February 27, focusing on stronger regional economic cooperation and integration in a quest to form the ASEAN Economic Community ( AEC ) by 2015.

The AEC looks to turn ASEAN into a common production base and an integrated market with an even economic development level which will fully integrate into the global economy.

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

Ahead of the meeting, a ministerial conference on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will also be held in the island state from February 22-25, during which trade ministers and senior officials from 12 TPP member countries are to discuss outstanding issues related to the deal. The 12 countries are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, US and Vietnam.

As the world’s largest regional trade deal, the TPP represents a market of over 792 million people and a combined gross domestic product of 27.5 trillion USD, or nearly 40 percent of the world economy and one-third of global trade.-VNA