1. Economic Ministers from the ten ASEAN Member States and China (“the Ministers”) met virtually on 27 August 2020 meeting for the Nineteenth AEM-MOFCOM Consultations. The Consultations were co-chaired by H.E. Tran Tuan Anh, Minister of Industry and Trade, Viet Nam, and H.E. Zhong Shan, Minister of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China.
2. The Ministers welcomed the robust growth of bilateral trade and investment in spite of global economic downturn and international trade contraction due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which fully manifests resilience and huge potential of ASEAN and China’s trade and economic cooperation. China maintained its position as ASEAN’s largest trading partner since 2009. The Ministers noted that, according to preliminary ASEAN data, total merchandise trade between ASEAN and China reached USD 507.9 billion in 2019, accounting for 18.0 per cent of ASEAN’s total merchandise trade. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows from China to ASEAN amounted to USD 9.1 billion in 2019, accounting for 5.7 per cent of ASEAN’s total FDI, which placed China as the fourth largest source of FDI among ASEAN’s Dialogue Partners. According to China’s statistics, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the trade volume between ASEAN and China during first half of 2020 increased by 2.2% against the downtrend where ASEAN leaps to become China’s largest trading partner for the first time, making ASEAN and China each other’s top trading partner.
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The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, was established on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand, with the signing of the ASEAN Declaration (Bangkok Declaration) by the Founding Fathers of ASEAN: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Brunei Darussalam joined ASEAN on 7 January 1984, followed by Viet Nam on 28 July 1995, Lao PDR and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, and Cambodia on 30 April 1999, making up what is today the ten Member States of ASEAN.Menu - WHAT WE DO
ASEAN organs always strive to achieve ASEAN’s goals and objectives, the Secretary-General of ASEAN and the ASEAN Secretariat shall be functioned as coordinating Secretariat to help facilitate effective decision-making withing and amongst ASEAN bodies. In addition, each Member State shall appoint a Permanent Representative to liaise with Secretary-General of ASEAN and the ASEAN Secretariat
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ASEAN shall develop friendly relations and mutually beneficial dialogues, cooperation and partnerships with countries and sub-regional, regional and international organisations and institutions. This includes external partners, ASEAN entities, human rights bodies, non-ASEAN Member States Ambassadors to ASEAN, ASEAN committees in third countries and international organisations, as well as international / regional organisations.
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The rodmap for an ASEAN Community (2009-2015) was declared by the leaders in 2009. The ASEAN Community, anchored on three community pillars: Political-Security Community, Economic Community, Socio-Cultural Community was launched in 2015. The ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead Together was introduced in 2015 as a Post-2015 Vision. It comprises the ASEAN Community Vision 2025, the ASEAN Political-Security Community Blueprint 2025, the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint 2025 and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Blueprint 2025
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