Committee of the Whole (CoW) for the ASEAN Economic Community:

CoW acts as the coordinating conference of the AEC. The Committee meets annually, usually at the beginning of the year, and serves as a platform for sharing AEC implementation progress and plan for the year, including sectoral priorities, and to identify areas for cross-cutting collaboration/cooperation across sectoral bodies. Special meetings of the Committee may also be held to discuss specific issues. The Committee was first set up in 2009 to enhance ASEAN’s effectiveness in addressing cross-cutting issues across AEC sectors as well as ASEAN Community Pillars. In addition to the Senior Economic Officials’ Meeting (SEOM) and Chairs of sectoral bodies under the AEC Pillar, CoW Meetings are also attended by Chairs of Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) and the Senior Officials’ Committee for the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Council (SOCA), and Committee of Permanent Representatives to ASEAN (CPR). The Chair of the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC) is also regularly invited to participate.

High-Level Task Force on Economic Integration (HLTF-EI):

Set up in 2003, the High-Level Task Force on ASEAN Economic Integration (HLTF-EI) provides advisory and strategic inputs to regional economic integration in ASEAN and beyond. Comprising high-ranking officials from ASEAN Member States (AMS), the HLTF-EI took the leading role in the development of the AEC Blueprint 2015 and the subsequent AEC Blueprint 2025. The HLTF-EI also initiates and oversees discussions on new or emerging issues such as the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Good Regulatory Practice.