Economic ministers' meeting on East Asia cooperation, namely the 21st China-ASEAN (10+1) Economic Ministers' Meeting, the 25th ASEAN-China-Japan-ROK (10+3) Economic Ministers' Meeting and the 10th East Asian Summit (10+8) Economic Ministers' Meeting, were held on September 17. Assistant Minister of Commerce Li Fei attended the meetings via video link in Beijing.
The parties had in-depth exchanges and reached numerous agreements on key topics of international and regional trade and economic cooperation, including deepening China-ASEAN trade and economic cooperation, building a version 3.0 of the China-ASEAN FTA, implementing the RCEP agreement up to high standards, strengthening resilience of regional industrial and supply chains, promoting post-pandemic economic recovery and cooperation, and safeguarding the multilateral trading system.
At the 10+1 meeting, the parties agreed that China-ASEAN trade and economic cooperation has yielded fruitful outcomes under the guidance of the leaders, that China and ASEAN have remained each other's largest trading partner, and that mutual investment has been vibrant. The two sides agreed that in the first year of China-ASEAN comprehensive strategic partnership, both sides should develop closer trade and economic ties, expand trade and investment, enhance industrial and supply chain cooperation, continue to build the China-ASEAN FTA, and boost post-pandemic recovery in China and ASEAN countries. The meeting endorsed the Work Program on Further Deepening China-ASEAN Trade and Economic Cooperation, the progress report on implementation of the ACFTA, the Joint Feasibility Study Report to Further Enhance the ACFTA (ACFTA3.0), and the Joint Ministerial Statement by China and ASEAN on Cooperation for Post-COVID 19 Economic Recovery.
At the 10+3 meeting, the parties expressed their commitment to closer cooperation to overcome the adverse impact of Covid-19 and better leverage RCEP's role. The parties spoke highly of the 10+3 Forum on Industrial Chain and Supply Chain Cooperation, for its key role in increasing resilience of regional industrial and supply chains and facilitating post-pandemic economic recovery. The meeting endorsed the ASEAN Plus Three Economic Cooperation Work Programme (ECWP) 2023-2024 and the progress report of an action plan on mitigating the economic impact of Covid-19
At the 10+8 meeting, the parties exchanged views on global and regional economy, implementation of the outcomes of the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) of the WTO and other issues.
Officials responsible for economy and trade from the ASEAN member states and ASEAN dialogue partners including Japan, the ROK, Australia, New Zealand, India, the U.S. and Russia attended the meetings.
