Illustrative photo (Photo: VNA) At the event, Vietnam expressed support for Indonesia's priority economic cooperation initiatives during the ASEAN Chairmanship Year 2023, affirming that Vietnam will continue to work closely with other ASEAN member countries to implement the common goals of the ASEAN Economic Community.
The Vietnamese side also emphasised the need for ASEAN countries to strengthen intra-bloc economic integration through prioritising negotiations to upgrade the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) in order to ensure that the agreement can respond to the new regional and global situation.
ASEAN economic ministers approved seven priority economic cooperation initiatives of Indonesia, focusing on three main orientations including reconstructing regional growth through connecting markets and improving competitiveness; speeding up digital transformation and engaging in an inclusive digital economy, and promoting sustainable economic growth for a sustainable future.
They also agreed on annual priorities for 2023 in the economic channel, focusing on trade in goods, trade in services, investment, and facilitating the intra-regional movement of skilled labourers and business visitors, competition, consumer protection, intellectual property, e-commerce; and micro, small, and medium enterprises.
Participants reviewed negotiations to upgrade the ATIGA, the recommendations of the High-Level Task Force on ASEAN Economic Integration to promote regional economic integration, as well as the implementation of the Master Plan for building the ASEAN Economic Community by 2025.
They agreed to allocate resources to promote and basically complete negotiations to upgrade the ATIGA in accordance with the set roadmap.
Regarding outside-bloc economic cooperation, participants discussed priority orientations in ASEAN's trade negotiations, and the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement.
They also had a consultation session with the ASEAN Business Advisory Council to discuss the recommendations of the council related to digital transformation, sustainable development, food security, health resilience, trade and investment facilitation to promote trade cooperation, improve regional supply chains, and accelerate post-COVID-19 economic recovery./.
VNA
