JAKARTA, 2 February 2023 – UK Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Exports) Andrew Bowie paid a courtesy call on Secretary-General Dr Kao Kim Hourn at the ASEAN Secretariat today.
Dr Kao highlighted the growth of trade relations between ASEAN and the UK that has increased from US$28.2 billion in 2016 to US$31.6 billion in 2021. He further highlighted ASEAN’s positive economic outlook for 2023 and how it serves as an opportunity for ASEAN and the UK to enhance their trade ties.
During the call, Secretary-General Kao and Minister Bowie also discussed how ASEAN and the UK could intensify economic cooperation on shared focus areas for 2023 including financial services, infrastructure connectivity, digital transformation, and sustainable economy.
To this end, Minister Bowie highlighted the UK’s plan to bring experts from both the UK government and private sectors to the region to support the realisation of ASEAN’s priorities and to increase economic cooperation between ASEAN and the UK.
The UK was conferred the status of ASEAN’s Dialogue Partner (DP) at the 54th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ (AMM) Retreat on 2 August 2021. Subsequently, ASEAN and the UK adopted cooperation framework documents, including the Plan of Action to Implement the ASEAN-UK Dialogue Partnership (2022-2026), and the Work Plan on Economic Cooperation, both of which identified focus areas of cooperation that would strengthen engagement between the two sides.
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