ASEAN, Hong Kong to Pursue Free Trade Agreement

TEMPO.CO, Hong Kong - Le Luong Minh, Secretary-General of ASEAN, visited Hong Kong last week following an invitation of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government.

During his visit, the Secretary-General met with high level officials who provide brief information on Hong Kong's trade and intellectual property rights policies, as well as the activities of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. Discussions were focused on the continuing development of Hong Kong as a city, the dominance of services in Hong Kong's economy, including financial services, and the success of Hong Kong's anti-corruption drive, which plays an important role in supporting the country as an international business hub.

The Hong Kong officials also emphasized ASEAN's importance to Hong Kong both as a rapidly growing economic region and as an organization. With ASEAN being Hong Kong's second biggest trading partner after mainland China, there is much interest to pursue broader and deeper economic cooperation with ASEAN.

The Secretary-General and the Hong Kong officials agreed that an ASEAN-Hong Kong Free Trade Agreement (AHKFTA) could yield mutual benefits. Preparations for the proposed AHKFTA negotiations are currently underway, after ASEAN Economic Ministers provide an endorsement during the 19th AEM Retreat last March 2013 in Vietnam

Minh also gave a keynote address on "The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) – What Progress Has Been Made and What Are Its Prospects?" event at the Credit Suisse Asia Investment Conference (AIC). He shared ASEAN's accomplishments in terms of the regional economic integration and community building agenda, as well as the remaining challenges in establishing the AEC by 2015. He also highlighted that 2015 represents the start of a new phase for ASEAN, and stated that the challenge is to develop the framework for enhanced ASEAN economic integration for the next ten years (AEC 2016-2025) in order to achieve a completely seamless economic community. (*)