The 9th meeting of the ASEAN-Australia Joint Cooperation Committee took place in Jakarta, Indonesia, on May 24.
Although ASEAN’s inception was mainly driven by security reasons, it has increasingly become an important driver of economic development.
Khun Pakainay Leng-Ee, who was Thailand’s Minister Counsellor for Commercial Affairs to Myanmar from October 4, 2015 to May 15, 2019, reckons the two neighbouring countries have reached an optimal level of trade. “I think we’ve reached the best situation now,” he said.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry jointly held a workshop in Hanoi on May 23 to inform enterprises on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
Vietnam underlined its attractiveness as a destination for private equity investment with a 285 percent jump year-on-year to $1.6 billion last year.
Southeast Asia, and particularly Thailand, cannot expect to see a wide-scale divergence of supply chains coming its way unless there are improvements in production technology and capacity, and regional integration, according to HSBC Thailand.
The trade war between China and the United States has led to an increased US import tax of 25 percent which affects global trade and Thai exports to the US. The Ministry of Commerce has devised a solution to the problem by seeking enhanced cooperation between ASEAN and China.
Senior officials of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China held a consultation in Hangzhou, China’s Zhejiang province, on May 19 to review cooperation, discuss measures to promote partnership, and prepare for the ASEAN-China post ministerial conference this August.
<p>Time: November 2025<br /> By: WTO and International Trade Group, Legal Department – VCCI</p>
