TOKYO, Jan 22 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) — Secretary General of the ASEAN-Japan Centre (AJC), Mr. Masataka Fujita was invited to the High-Level Symposium on Intra-ASEAN Trade and Investment: “Enhancing Intra-ASEAN Trade and Investment for Cohesive and Responsive ASEAN Community”, which was held in Hanoi, Viet Nam, on 10 January 2020, to share his views on the current situation of intra-ASEAN trade and investment with a focus on growing ASEAN’s participation in the Global Value Chains (GVCs).
The Symposium was one of the first official events of ASEAN 2020 since Viet Nam assumed the Chair of ASEAN; and organized by the Viet Nam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in coordination with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and Ministry of Planning and Investment. It was attended by some 120 distinguished guests and participants including former and incumbent ministerial level officials from some ASEAN countries, officials attending Senior Economic Officials Meeting (SEOM) from all the 10 ASEAN Member States, as well as delegates and experts from the ASEAN Secretariat and other regional and international organizations. Against the background that the situation of intra-ASEAN trade and investment are relatively modest compared to the other economic groupings, and with the conviction that enhancing intra-ASEAN trade and investment will contribute to realize ASEAN priorities and a cohesive and responsive ASEAN Community, the symposium discussed three kinds of issues, namely, removing institutional and policy barriers, moving up along GVCs and improving seamless logistics. It was aimed at coming up with policy recommendations to be reported to SEOM and ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting in 2020 for further consideration.