TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Economic affairs officials from ASEAN Countries gathered in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar to finalize the ASEAN Economic Community plan that would be commenced on Desember 31, 2015.

Bahrul Chairi, director general for international trade at the Trade Ministry, revealed that the SEOM Meeting would cover ASEAN free trade topics, including the flow of goods, services, investment, capital and skilled labor.

“We are preparing a summary of what have been agreed and decisions to be made at the ministerial level,” Bahrul told Tempo on Saturday.

The ministers meetings will be continued with bilateral meetings between ASEAN countries and six partnering countries ahead of multilateral meetings between ASEAN and China, Japan and South Korea (ASEAN+3). In addition, there will be conference between ASEAN countries and Mekong region that is a part of BIMP-EAGA (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines-East ASEAN Growth Area) cooperation.

Donna Gultom, Director of ASEAN Cooperation at the Trade Ministry, revealed that domestic industry must be actively working on export market to be benefited from the economic liberalization. In addition, business owners must also utilize local raw materials because raw material imports would burden the foreign exchange, Donna said.

EFRI RITONGA