ASEAN finance ministers, central banks' governors meet in Thai North

CHIANG RAI, THAILAND, April 3 (TNA) - The 23rd ASEAN Finance Ministers’ Meeting, the 5th ASEAN Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting and related forums are being held in Thailand's northern Chiang Rai Province during April 2-5. Thai Finance Ministry Spokesman Lawan Saengsanit, who is also Director-General of the ministry's Fiscal Policy Office (FPO), told journalists on Wednesday that accelerating moves by member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to fully connect and integrate their National Single Window (NSW) systems with the ASEAN Single Window (ASW) system have been discussed at the ongoing regional gatherings in order to speed up their cross-border cargo clearance through the electronic exchange of trade-related documents without any redundancy. The spokesman stated that the Thailand-led development of advanced payment systems in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) through either the QR-Code or the connection of official e-payment channels of ASEAN member countries, set to be first launched among Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand (CLMVT), has also been included on the agenda. The spokesman said that the fiscal status of ASEAN member countries will also be raised for discussions at the four-day regional gatherings, along with plans on the joint management of the regional digital financial markets and the cyber security enhancement. "For Thailand, the national fiscal status remains strong, with a high level of foreign exchange reserves but low rates of the unemployment and inflation", the spokesman acknowledged. According to the spokesman, there are about 300 participants in the ongoing regional gatherings in Chiang Rai, including finance ministers, central banks' governors and senior finance ministries' officials of ASEAN and the 10-member bloc's three dialogue partners, including China, Japan and South Korea, as well as senior executives of the ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO), the ADB, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Besides, representatives of the private sector participate in the ongoing regional gatherings, including those from the ASEAN Business Advisory Council, the EU-ASEAN Business Council and the US-ASEAN Business Council. Thailand plays the role of the ASEAN Chairmanship in 2019 with the theme of "Advancing Partnership for Sustainability”. (TNA)