DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “ASEAN ministers, WIPO chief discuss measures to protect intellectual property” plus 3 more

SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- The consultations between ASEAN Economic Ministers and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) were held here on Tuesday, discussing measures to protect intellectual property in the bloc, according to a press release after the meeting.

The dialogues were made between ASEAN Economic Ministers led by Cambodian Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh and Francis Gurry, WIPO's director-general.

The press release said that the issues in discussions included approaches and practices in the promotion of intellectual property creation, commercialization and protection; policy areas and initiatives in the context of the ASEAN-Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Action Plan 2011-2015; market opportunities and priority areas for action and reform; and use of IPRs and competitiveness.

Speaking to reporters in a press briefing after the meeting, Francis Gurry appreciated ASEAN for its commitment to improve intellectual property climate in the context that the bloc has been working closely to build a community by 2015.

"The use of intellectual property is not only a mean of improving the integration of the market in ASEAN, but also improving the competitive position of the ASEAN economies," he said.

The meeting was made while the ASEAN Economic Ministers are gathering here in the 44th summit.

Besides attending the meeting, Francis Gurry had met Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, and had bilateral meetings with Cambodian Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh, Minister of Industry Suy Sem, and Minister of Culture Him Chhem in order to discuss further cooperation in intellectual property.

SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming arrived here Tuesday to attend the 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers meeting and related meetings.

Var Cheang, secretary of state from Cambodian Commerce Ministry, greeted the Chinese minister at the airport.

During his 3-day stay in Cambodia's tourist city Siem Reap, the Chinese minister is scheduled to meet his Cambodian counterpart Cham Prasidh and attend several meetings representing China, including ASEAN-China Economic Ministers Meeting and ASEAN+3 Economic Ministers Meeting.

Chen will wrap up his visit and depart for Beijing on Thursday.

SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- The bilateral relationship between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ( ASEAN) and China is very good and the regional bloc wants to see more investment and tourists from China, ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan said here Monday.

"The ASEAN relation with China has been very productive and both sides certainly take the relationship very seriously," he said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua on the sidelines of the 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting.

He said that the bilateral trade between ASEAN and China is growing very fast and the trade balance has been in China's favor.

"Certainly, we are hoping that there will be more investment coming from China in order to sustain this growth and to make the relationship more balance," he said.

Asked about China's role in helping ASEAN realize the Economic Community by 2015, Surin said China is the largest market for ASEAN and the country is certainly a growth engine for ASEAN as it has been the growth engine for the rest of the world.

He added that China has helped ASEAN a lot in infrastructure development.

In ASEAN's process to build an economic community by 2015, Surin said that ASEAN has done well in terms of soft infrastructure such as agreements, protocols, and various elements of cooperation and coordination among member states.

"To date, we have ratified about 73 percent of all the major instruments of cooperation among ASEAN," he said. "We have less than 30 percent to go, and our challenge is how to implement every of them, and how to translate the regional ASEAN commitments into the national agenda implementation, rules, laws and regulations."

"We will accelerate our efforts in order to make sure that all these agreements are not only ratified, but also implemented," he said.

He expressed confidence that ASEAN will be able to achieve the Economic Community by 2015 thanks to ASEAN's joint commitment and help from dialogue partners.

He said the upcoming ASEAN Economic Community would be a market of 600 million people and would be more attractive to the world in terms of trade and investment.

SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- The 15th ASEAN Investment Area (AIA) Council meeting was held here on Monday afternoon to review developments in the AIA and to discuss ways in attracting more foreign direct investment into the ASEAN region, said a senior ASEAN official.

The AIA Council comprises of ASEAN ministers responsible for investment. The meeting was chaired by Kong Vibol, secretary of state of the Economy and Finance Ministry and vice chairman of the Council for the Development of Cambodia, and was also attended by Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, ASEAN secretary-general.

The meeting had agreed to do more in terms of rules and regulations in order to present ASEAN as 'one investment area', Surin told Xinhua after the meeting.

"We need to do more to increase the confidence of external potential investment coming into ASEAN," he said, adding that last year, the bloc attracted a large amount of investment - about 90 billion U.S. dollars.

"We also agreed to work closely with dialogue partners and wanted their participation within the ASEAN investment area," he said.

On the same day, the 26th ASEAN Free Trade Area Council meeting was also held to further discuss trade facilitation within the region.

The topics of discussion include elimination of non-tariff barriers that impede trade, simplification of rules and procedures of doing business and enhancing the use of information and communication technologies in customs clearance of goods within the region.

The two meetings are among a series of the week-long 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting.

The ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.