ID :
358575
Fri, 02/27/2015 - 11:01
Auther :

Officials Confident Of Mid-Year Completion Of ASEAN-Post 2015 Draft

KOTA BAHARU (Kelantan, Malaysia), Feb 27 (Bernama) -- ASEAN senior officials have expressed confidence that the draft of the Post-2015 Economic Vision and Plan would be completed by the middle of the year. International Trade and Industry Deputy Ministry Secretary-General (Trade) Mohd Rizal Sheriff said the draft would spell out a new and bold plan to chart the direction for deeper regional integration for the 2016-2025 period. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Eight Meeting of High-Level Task Force on ASEAN Economic Integration here Friday, he said the discussion on the preparation of the draft was progressing well and the commitment from the 10 member countries were very strong. "The meeting has been going on for almost a year now and we are quite optimistic about the next 10 years. "We hope that the final draft document will be ready for internal perusal before it is announced by the leaders in November," he said. Mohd Rizal, who chaired the meeting, said although the draft document is almost complete, it would be scrutinised across the board by various sectoral groups, for example, aviation and transport. "Our challenges during the meeting boil down to the amount of ambitions that we have. We observe a consensus-based approach among the 10 member countries," he said. The three-day high-level task force meeting is held here from Friday in conjunction with the 21st ASEAN Economic Ministers' Retreat. Taking over the chairmanship of ASEAN from Myanmar on Jan 1, 2015, Malaysia's vision of a 'People-Centred ASEAN’ is clearly reflected in the theme "Our People, Our Community, Our Vision" throughout its stewardship. The ASEAN member states are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia. -- BERNAMA

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