Japan, China, South Korea and ASEAN countries have emphasised the need to pursue an open trading system for the region to allow sustainable growth of trade and investments, Philippine News Agency (PNA) reported.
In a joint statement released on Monday, the ASEAN and the Plus Three Countries noted that in 2016 alone, total merchandise trade between the 13 states amounted to US$694.2 billion or 31 per cent of the bloc's total merchandise trade.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) flows from the Plus Three Countries into ASEAN, meanwhile, was valued at US$27.1 billion, accounting for 27.6 per cent of the total FDI inflow to ASEAN.
"We emphasised the need to pursue an open trading system for the region that would allow sustainable growth of trade and investments," it said.
On the other hand, the 13 nations said it will continue cooperation on economic issues as it encouraged closer collaboration on ASEAN’s new priorities and projects through the adopted ASEAN Plus Three (APT) Economic Cooperation Work Programme 2017-2018, covering areas such as connectivity, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) development, trade facilitation, and e-commerce.
The work program reinforces the foundation for enhanced economic relations, through sustained dialogue and consultations and technical cooperation activities between ASEAN and the Plus Three countries.
During their meeting in Manila, the state leaders recognized the important role of private sector in enhancing economic cooperation in the East Asian region and noted the efforts made by the East Asia Business Council (EABC) in supporting MSMEs to capture and maximise the opportunities offered by digital trade and to find new ways of doing business.
On research, they acknowledged the countries' continuous business engagements including through the conduct of relevant research studies.
"We welcomed the collaboration among the EABC, ASEAN-China Centre, ASEAN-Japan Centre, and ASEAN-Korea Centre to extend the reach of cooperation in the context of the APT in order to increase trade and investment," it said.
In setting long-term goals of regional integration, they noted the proposal to study the next phase of East Asia Vision Group III to include a focus on the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Source: Malaysiandigest
Key words: ASEAN, China, Japan, South Korea, call for, open trade system
