Singapore (VNA) – The 50th ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM-50) Meeting and Related Meetings, which freshlyconcluded in Singapore on September 1 after four days of working, is animportant event in the context of rising global trade protectionism andunilateralisaiton, said Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh in arecent interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency.

The main goal of these meetings is promotingmultilateral economic cooperation and trade liberalisation through the RegionalComprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), affirming the central role of ASEANin creating new regional trade architecture, he added.

The AEM-50 and related meetings are not onlyimportant to Vietnam, which will host ASEAN meetings in 2020, but alsopractical to other ASEAN member states to boost free trade agreements betweenthe bloc and its partners, including the RCEP, as well as implement effectivelysigned deals and direct negotiations with new partners such as Canada, Russiaand the US.

Ministers reached consensus on these matters andthe outcomes will be continuously realised to report to the 33rd ASEAN Summitand related meetings in Singapore in November, he said.

At the sixth RCEP ministerial meeting, countriesset the target of basically concluding negotiations on opening the goods,service and investment markets as well as some technical contents in 2019. Todo so, ministers issued some commitment packages to conclude the negotiationsand demonstrate the leading role of ASEAN in the field.

Regarding Vietnam’s contributions, Minister Anh said thecountry has closely coordinated with other ASEAN nations to maintain the bloc’sleadership while concurrently promoting negotiations and maximally protectingthe interests of the member states, including Vietnam, in the RCEP talks.

As the chair of talks on investment in the RCEP,Vietnam has built the set of negotiations on investment to be submitted to theregional ministers for approval and serve as the orientation for talkconclusion. Chairing the talks on government procurement, at the 23rddiscussion in Bangkok last July, it actively contributed to the finalisation oftalks on the government procurement chapter. The country has also joined otherASEAN members in wrapping up the negotiations on a chapter on customsprocedures and trade facilitation.

Within the framework of the AEM-50, theVietnamese minister had a separate meeting with the Singaporean Minister ofTrade and Industry, who is also Chairman of negotiations this year, to reach anagreement on the talks’ targets.

He said Vietnam has been actively implementingthe signed documents, including proposing its Prime Minister revise relevantlegal documents to carry out the self-certification of goods origin programme,which used to help businesses save much time and cost.

In terms of negotiations on services, Vietnamhas submitted concrete recommendations so that the ASEAN agreement on trade inservices could be signed in late 2018. It has also suggested how to selectpartners for the bloc to negotiate free trade agreements with in the timeahead, and these proposals received support from other countries of thegrouping.

The minister noted the RCEP is the firstagreement ASEAN has played the central role in promoting negotiations on.Finalising talks on this deal will reflect the bloc’s centrality in regionalcooperation mechanisms.

The RCEP will create a market with about 3.4billion consumers and total GDP of some 49.5 trillion USD that accounts for 39percent of the global GDP. With the commitments to opening the goods, servicesand investment markets, simplifying custom procedures, setting up rules oforigin that facilitate trade, and minimising trade barriers, it is expected toform the biggest free trade area in the world, promote value chains in theregion and around the globe, and step up economic development in the ASEANnations, including Vietnam, and their partners, he added.-VNA