DAP: The breaking news in Cambodia: “Chinese commerce minister meets U.S. representative for trade promotion” plus 3 more

SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming on Thursday met with Ron Kirk, the United States Trade Representative, to discuss ways to further enhance bilateral trade.

The meeting was made on the sidelines of the 44th ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting and related meetings, which was opened on Monday and will last until Friday.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Kirk said the meeting was fruitful to boost trade between the U.S. and China. "We discussed lots of things; it is a very complex, but dynamic relationship,"he said."Minister Chen and I should know that one of the few bright spots in the global economic environment is the relationship between China and the U.S., and we are committed to resolving trade inheritance so that the relationship continues to grow."

Besides Sino-U.S. bilateral trade ties, the Chinese minister said his trip to Cambodia is successful and fruitful as several vital achievements had been made. "As one of the major achievements, Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul agreed to set up a new free trade zone which is likely to be started in November,"said Chen, "after that, ASEAN nations and their six FTA partners are intending to establish a bigger free trade zone. And the negotiation will kick off during the November summit".

Currently, ASEAN has six individual free trade partners, namely China, Japan, Republic of Korea, India, New Zealand, and Australia. Chen wrapped up his trip to Cambodia and left for Beijing on Thursday.

SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Economic Ministers of Mekong countries and their Japanese counterparts on Thursday agreed to add more development projects in the Mekong-Japan Economic and Industrial Cooperation Initiative (MJ-CI) Action Plan, according to a joint statement issued at the 4th Mekong-Japan Economic Ministers' Meeting.

The meeting was co-chaired by Tin Naing Thein, minister for Myanmar's National Planning and Economic Development, and Yukio Edano, Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, and attended by economic ministers and representatives from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam as well as ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan.

The ministers agreed to additionally incorporate several projects into the MJ-CI Action Plan such as organizing seminars and workshops for Free Trade Agreement utilization, improving power grid interconnection in the Mekong Region and developing power plants in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar, developing Special Economic Zones and establishing an industrial development strategy for Mekong countries, said the statement.

The MJ-CI Action Plan was adopted at the 2nd Mekong-Japan Summit in 2010, by prioritizing those projects with strong business needs for Mekong countries and Japan.

SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- The first dialogues between the ASEAN economic ministers and their counterparts from ASEAN's Free Trade Agreement partners were wrapped up here on Thursday, agreeing to start negotiations on a new regional free trade area in November, said a joint media statement after the meeting.

The consultations were chaired by Cambodian Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh. The statement said that the meeting made an important first step towards establishing a new regional free trade area in the form of a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

"The RCEP negotiations will be launched in November 2012," it said, adding that the RCEP is very significant to strengthen the region's economic architecture.The six partners are Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand.

The ministers are also committed to making the RCEP a modern, high quality agreement, which will underpin and promote future growth, development and integration in the participating countries.

They said that the RCEP could potentially transform the region into an integrated market comprising over 3 billion people with a combined GDP of about 17.23 trillion U.S. dollars.

The ministers also noted the progress made in the RCEP Working Group on trade in goods and instructed officials to commence parallel work in the areas of trade in services and investment at the Working Group level as soon as possible.

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

SIEM REAP, Cambodia, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Consultations between the ASEAN Economic Ministers and the United States Trade Representative concluded here on Thursday and the two sides agreed to further deepen trade and investment ties.

The dialogue was co-chaired by Cambodian Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh and Ambassador Ron Kirt, the United States Trade Representative.

"They underscored the opportunities for deepening economic ties and reiterated their commitment to further building the trade and investment relationship between ASEAN and the United States," said a joint statement after the meeting.

"ASEAN and the United States are considered as engines of global economic activity and growth, and that ever closer economic ties are of crucial importance to ASEAN and the United States, as well as the world," the statement said.

The ministers expressed their satisfaction with the activities being implemented under the ASEAN U.S. Trade and Investment Framework Arrangement (TIFA) in 2012 and plan to soon endorse a TIFA work plan for 2013.

Among the initiatives under consideration for 2013 are continued cooperation on trade facilitation, the digital economy, trade and the environment, and priority areas for ASEAN integration including small and medium enterprise development and ASEAN connectivity.

They also reaffirmed the necessity of organizing a second ASEAN Ministers Road Show to the United States in 2013, with the aim of further raising awareness of the ASEAN region and promoting ASEAN- U.S. economic relations.

According to the statement, trade between ASEAN and the United States remained strong. Last year, the total trade between ASEAN and the United States showed a 9.2 percent increase, growing from 178 billion U.S. dollars to 194 billion U.S. dollars.

ASEAN imports from the United States increased by 8.6 percent to 76.4 billion U.S. dollars while exports grew 9.8 percent to 118. 2 billion U.S. dollars.

It said that the United States remained the fourth largest trading partner of ASEAN and, collectively, ASEAN is the fifth largest goods trading partner of the United States.

In the investment side, it said that the United States remained the third largest foreign direct investor in ASEAN.

According to the United States' data, last year, the U.S. foreign direct investment stock in ASEAN countries was 159.6 billion U.S. dollars, up 11.2 percent compared to 2010. ASEAN foreign direct investment stock in the United States demonstrated even stronger growth, increasing 13.1 percent to 24.6 billion U.S. dollars.

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