ASEAN-Cer Agreement Will Continue To Improve - Minister Robb

By Norsyafawati Abdul Wahab KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 24 (Bernama)-- ASEAN's collaboration with Australia and New Zealand under the Closer Economic Relations (CER) Agreement will continue to improve. Australian Minister of Trade and Investment Andrew Robb said this after attending the ASEAN-CER meeting held in conjunction with the 47th ASEAN Economic Ministers' Meeting and Related Meetings here Sunday. He said the meeting looked into cooperation between the grouping and Australia, as well as New Zealand, as both countries are significantly funding capacity building among ASEAN countries. "The meeting was very positive. This is a world class agreement," he said, adding, it was going to be dynamic, while constantly changing and improving. He said ASEAN was Australia's second biggest trading partner after China and a lot of prosperity can be generated from the region. Trade between Australia and ASEAN has more than doubled over the last decade. Australia's bilateral trade with ASEAN increased seven per cent last year from US$67.9 billion in 2013. Robb said: "We will never get to the finish line. We will keep improving on the agreement as the aim is to thrive and make investments as seamless as possible within the trade members." Meanwhile, asked on the progress of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) between the United States and Australia, the minister said discussions were still in progress. "However, we have a couple of difficult issues. We're very close (to conclude), but the last few yards are the most difficult," he added. --BERNAMA