APR News

Macao, China has become the latest WTO member to ratify the new Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). Macao, China deposited its instrument of acceptance with the WTO Secretariat on April 11, 2016.
Concluded at the WTO’s 2013 Bali Ministerial Conference, the TFA contains provisions for expediting the movement, release and clearance of goods, including goods in transit. It also sets out measures for effective cooperation between customs and other appropriate authorities on trade facilitation and customs compliance issues. It further contains provisions for technical assistance and capacity building in this area.
The TFA will enter into force once two-thirds of the WTO membership has formally accepted the Agreement.
In addition to Macao, China, the following WTO members have also accepted the TFA: Hong Kong China, Singapore, the United States, Mauritius, Malaysia, Japan, Australia, Botswana, Trinidad and Tobago, the Republic of Korea, Nicaragua, Niger, Belize, Switzerland, Chinese Taipei, China, Liechtenstein, Lao PDR, New Zealand, Togo, Thailand, the European Union (on behalf of its 28 member states), the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Pakistan, Panama, Guyana, Côte d'Ivoire, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Kenya, Myanmar, Norway, Viet Nam, Brunei, Ukraine, Zambia, Lesotho, Georgia, Seychelles, Jamaica, Mali, Cambodia, Paraguay and Turkey.
The TFA broke new ground for developing and least-developed countries in the way it will be implemented. For the first time in WTO history, the requirement to implement the Agreement was directly linked to the capacity of the country to do so. In addition, the Agreement states that assistance and support should be provided to help countries achieve that capacity.
Implementation of the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) has the potential to increase global merchandise exports by up to $1 trillion per annum, according to the WTO’s flagship World Trade Report released on 26 October 2015. Significantly, the Report also found that developing countries will benefit significantly from the TFA, capturing more than half of the available gains.
More information on the WTO and trade facilitation
Press-release at the official WTO web-site

Secretary-General of ASEAN, H.E. Le Luong Minh, welcomed the President of Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and former President of the Republic of Indonesia, H.E. Dr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the ASEAN Secretariat to discuss potential collaboration on green growth on April 11, 2016. Currently, five ASEAN Member States are members of GGGI: Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam.
Dr. Yudhoyono highlighted the need to work collaboratively to ensure that green growth concept be adopted by all countries, especially by the emerging and developing economies. He updated on the progress of GGGI’s work and projects with governments, including a number of ASEAN Member States and international organisations. He proposed four core areas which could serve as cooperation with ASEAN, i.e. energy, green city development, land use and water conservation.
With Southeast Asia being one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change impacts, Secretary-General Minh emphasized that addressing climate change and promoting low carbon development is one of the priorities of ASEAN. He also shared on ASEAN’s efforts in addressing climate change, such as through promoting sustainable peatland management to reduce greenhouse gas emission from peatland fires, and implementing the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution. Secretary-General Minh also highlighted that ASEAN, while being rich in biodiversity, remains vulnerable to habitat and biodiversity loss due to climate change, and therefore places high importance on biodiversity conservation, as reflected in the establishment of a dedicated centre for biodiversity based in Los Banos, Philippines.
Press-release at the official ASEAN web-site

The 17th Meeting of the ASEAN-China Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) held in Jakarta held on April 11, 2016 reaffirmed the importance of ASEAN-China partnership and renewed commitments to forge closer cooperation. The Meeting acknowledged the strong momentum to further strengthen ASEAN-China relations. The two sides welcomed the significant progress in the implementation of the activities and projects in a wide range of areas of cooperation under the ASEAN-China Plan of Action (POA) of the period 2011-2015. Both sides agreed to work closely to ensure the new Plan (2016-2020) is effectively implemented to further enhance cooperation in the next five years.
Progress has also been made in implementing the decisions of the 18th ASEAN-China Summit last November including the upgrading of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement to further enhance trade ties and cooperation in environment and public health.
The Meeting discussed plans to mark the 25th Anniversary of the ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations in 2016. A series of commemorative activities will be conducted throughout the year in ASEAN Member States and China to celebrate this milestone. Activities are also being planned under the ASEAN-China Education Exchange Year 2016 which aims to promote cooperation in education and raising awareness and mutual understanding. The Commemorative Summit, which will be convened in September in Vientiane, will provide the opportunity for both sides to review achievements of ASEAN-China relations and define direction to bring cooperation to the next level.
Development cooperation is a key area of ASEAN-China collaboration. ASEAN Member States acknowledged China’s contribution to ASEAN’s development by sponsoring relevant activities and projects through the ASEAN-China Cooperation Fund. Both sides also agreed to explore ways to further improve the implementation process to enhance the effectiveness and timely implementation of activities and projects.
Press-release at the ASEAN official web-site

Director of the Department for Trade Negotiations of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Maxim Medvedkov was a keynote speaker of the event. In his speech he highlighted the features of the trade liberalization regime established by the TPP, as well as additional terms in a number of areas, from agriculture and ecology to investment and intellectual property rights. Maxim Medvedkov presented the results of the comparison between the TPP provisions and a trade regime terms based on the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. He stressed that despite the presence of clear regulations in a number of innovative areas the TPP is unlikely to lead to a formation of a game changing trade and investment regime. At the same time the TPP initiative could transform and evolve in the foreseeable future. In this regard, according to Maxim Medvedkov, Russia should keep an eye on the TPP development, working actively to strengthen the WTO rules for regional trade agreements and using its own potential for negotiations at the global scene to promote its agenda.
Executive Secretary of the RSPP Committee on Integration, Trade and Customs Policy and WTO Pavel Isaev, who addressed the participants after Maxim Medvedkov, emphasized the importance of business-government engagement on trade policy issues. He noted that initially the TPP will produce very limited direct impact on Russia`s economy but drew the participants’ attention to the potential competitive risks to the Russian businesses due to improving of business environment in the TPP participating economies in innovative sectors, such as biotechnologies and e-commerce. According to Pavel Isaev, these challenges could be addressed by implementing a number of innovative provisions of the TPP Agreement in the Russian legislation.
During the discussion the participants exchanged views on prospects and risks of joining alternative trade agreements in the Asia-Pacific, changing conditions for the Russian business at the markets participating in the TPP, possible ways of the TPP norms proliferation within the WTO as well as Russia`s role and position in future regional and global trade and investment landscape.

The European Union (EU) reiterated its strong commitment and interest in further substantiating the ASEAN-EU Dialogue Relations.
This was conveyed by the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission, H.E. Ms. Federica Mogherini during her meeting with Secretary-General of ASEAN, H.E. Le Luong Minh, at the ASEAN Secretariat on April 9, 2016.
High Representative Mogherini stated that the EU attaches great importance to its partnership with ASEAN and intends to further enhance cooperation in priority areas such as combating terrorism and transnational crime, and maritime security. While pledging the EU’s continued support for ASEAN Community building, the EU remains the largest investor in the region and the second largest trading partner of ASEAN.
Secretary-General Minh welcomed the EU’s keen interest to further add substance to the relations and to elevate the partnership to a greater height. He stated that the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the ASEAN-EU Dialogue Relations in 2017 will present a favourable opportunity to further advance the forward-looking relationship. He also reiterated ASEAN’s appreciation to the EU for its financial and technical support to ASEAN, particularly the sharing of its valuable experiences and lessons-learned in the process of European regional integration as well as capacity building for the ASEAN Secretariat.
Both sides shared the view that both ASEAN and EU should further expand cooperation in the political and security field, particularly in promoting peace and stability in the region. They recognized the potentials on both sides and deliberated on the favourable prospect for the resumption of negotiation on the region-to-region free trade agreement between ASEAN and the EU. They also acknowledged that the recent establishment of the EU’s dedicated Diplomatic Mission to ASEAN based in Jakarta was the manifestation of the EU’s commitment. The Mission plays an important role in coordinating with the representatives of the ASEAN Member States and the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta.
Press-release at the official ASEAN web-site

Two events to socialise the ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement (ACIA) in the form of ACIA Forums and Seminars were conducted in Bangkok, Thailand on 4-5 April and in Singapore on 7-8 April 2016. The fora aim to create awareness and understanding of the ACIA among investors and business people, and were followed by seminars which aim to develop better understanding of the ACIA provisions for government officials, particularly the policy-makers and the investment promotion agency officials.
These events are jointly organised by the ASEAN Secretariat, the BOI of Thailand and the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Singapore, respectively, with the support of the Australian Government through the ASEAN Australia Development Cooperation Programme Phase II.
The ACIA Forum’s pictures and programme can be accessed from the Invest in ASEAN website http://investasean.asean.org.
The ACIA Guidebook for Businesses and Investors in ASEAN was distributed during the Forum and can be accessed from this link.
Press-release at the official ASEAN web-site

The Second ASEAN Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting (2nd AFMGM), the Twentieth ASEAN Finance Ministers’ Meeting, and the Twelfth ASEAN Central Bank Governors’ Meeting (12th ACGM) were held on 4 April in Vientiane, Lao PDR.
The 2nd AFMGM reviewed the progress of regional initiatives on financial integration and financial cooperation, and endorsed the Strategic Action Plans for ASEAN financial integration 2025. The meeting endorsed the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum Action Plan 2016-2020 and the establishment of the ASEAN Insurance Forum, the Working Committee on Financial Inclusion, and the Working Committee on ASEAN Banking Integration Framework. Meanwhile, the finance ministers meeting endorsed the six broad strategies of taxation action plans.
Joint Statement of the 2nd ASEAN Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting (AFMGM)
Press-release at the official ASEAN web-site

The Russian delegation was headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov.
The participants discussed the preparation process to the Russia-ASEAN summit on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Russia-ASEAN dialogue partnership to be held in Sochi on May 19-20, 2016; Russia-ASEAN cooperation development in particular in such spheres as emergency response, energy, agriculture, science and technology; current international and regional issues, including joint opposition to common challenges and threats, as well as forming a new security and cooperation architecture in the Asia Pacific region and strengthening coordination on multilateral platforms in the region.
The next round of Russia-ASEAN political consultations at the level of deputy foreign ministers will be held in Laos in 2017.
Press release at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs web-site

President of Russia Vladimir Putin sent Trần Đại Quang a message of congratulations expressing confidence that Trần Đại Quang’s wealth of experience in government activities will help him successfully tackle the current socioeconomic development issues in Vietnam.
Vladimir Putin expressed hope for close joint work with the President of Vietnam to further foster the countries’ bilateral and multilateral relationships.
Press-release at the Russian President official web-site

Russian First Deputy Minister of Economic Development Alexey Likhachev emphasized that an important cornerstone in Russian – Vietnamese relationships was signing the Free Trade Agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union and Socialist Republic of Vietnam in May 2015. The document was notified by Viet Nam (December 2015) and Kazakhstan (February 2016).
Alexey Likhachev noted that despite difficulties the Russian economy faced last year, a trade turnover between the two countries demonstrated an upward trend increasing by about 4 per cent. “Viet Nam accounts for almost one third of the Russian export (29%) and the same share of import (28%) to and from the countries of the Southeast Asia ”, - Alexey Likhachev added.
As regards investment cooperation, First Deputy Minister said that mutual Russian – Vietnamese investment reach about USD 4.5 billion. In 2015, following up the 18th meeting of the Russian – Vietnamese intergovernmental commission, a list of priority investment projects was expanded and their total number now is 20, with 15 Russian and 5 Vietnamese projects.
Talking about the Working Group activities Alexey Likhachev emphasized a need to refresh the bilateral engagement taking into account signing and enforcement of the Free Trade Agreement. According to him, it is necessary to explore an issue of establishing a joint projects development fund.
Moreover, Alexey Likhachev recalled about the Russian Federation plans to establish a trade house in Viet Nam.
Alexey Likhachev invited the participants to attend the Russia – ASEAN Business Forum to be held in Sochi on May 19, 2016 on the sidelines of the anniversary Russia – ASEAN summit as well as the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) and Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).
Press-release at the official web-site of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation (in Russian)