The Philippines and Japan are expected to sign seven key bilateral documents or agreements and reaffirm their strong relations during President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s five-day working visit to Tokyo from Feb. 8 to 12.
Vietnam will work with other ASEAN member states to discuss, agree on processes, procedures and necessary measures to support Timor Leste to become an official member of the group soon.
The United States may pursue a free trade agreement (FTA) with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) as it seeks to boost economic activities with the major economic bloc, which bodes well for the Philippines.
During the summit, Ursula von der Leyen stated: “We want to trade more with each other. We already are each other’s third largest trading partners,” and “Our ultimate goal would be to negotiate a region-to-region free trade agreement.”
Major South East Asian palm oil producer countries are gearing up to retaliate against the European Union’s controversial deforestation regulation, with the situation rapidly devolving to the point that a trade war could be on the horizon.
Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan has expressed his hope that the largest economy of Southeast Asia will not import petrochemical products from 2027 thanks to petrochemical industry development in North Kalimantan’s green industrial area.
Indonesian president Joko Widodo said his government will soon consider halting the export of unprocessed copper ores to encourage domestic processing of raw materials in the country’s industrialisation push, following a similar policy on nickel and bauxite.
Malaysia’s external trade activities is expected to expand steadily beyond 2023 amid the impact of new trade agreements, apart from elevated commodity prices and lower interest rates.
<p>Time: 2024 By: Ministry of Industry and Trade</p>
