DOHA: Ambassadors of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Qatar were in accord, saying Asean will meet its target to integrate the 10 nations' economies by end of 2015, as they celebrated the 46th Asean Day yesterday at the Vietnam Embassy.

"Asean countries will be successful in establishing an Asean community and this will be a very high regional integration in vital areas including political, economic and socio-cultural," said Vietnam Ambassador Le Hong Phan, who is chairman of Asean Committee in Doha (ACD).

Ambassador Phan was speaking to local media after the flag hoisting ceremony to mark the event, which was attended by heads of missions and diplomats of seven Asean-member countries with embassies in Doha including Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam and Singapore.

He assured of Vietnam's full efforts to take part in the establishment of the Asean Community, which according to him would lead to a single market with free flow of investment to benefit all member countries.

Philippine Ambassador Crescente R Relacion was of the same view saying, "I believe we can meet the target. The basic advantage of this Asean economic community to be fulfilled in 2015 is that we have a collective base of more than 600m people as consumers so this is an opportunity for businessmen not only from Asean but outside Asean to take advantage of this expanded market."

Singapore Ambassador Wong Kwok Pun cited some areas that Asean has made progress on the implementation of the Asean Charter.
In particular, he pointed out Asean has made headway on disputes settlement mechanism, has been working towards the implementation of the roadmap for the Asean community, and taken big steps toward an integrated and sustained economic development.

"Every year we conduct lots of meetings which try to harmonise and work out a lot of problems that require collective action. This strengthens regional harmony and unity that provide the very strong basis for foreign investors to come to Asean," said the Singapore Ambassador.

Established on August 8, 1967, Asean aims to accelerate economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region to strengthen the foundation for a prosperous and peaceful community of Southeast Asian Nations.
"After 46 years of efforts from its establishment, Asean has become an important political and economic entity, playing a central role for peace, security and development in Southeast Asia," said Ambassador Phan.

Asean now stands as one of the most dynamic organisations in the world with a combined population of over 600m and a combined GDP of $2.3tn. It is also one of the fastest growing regions in the world with a high combined annual economic growth.
Pursuing its purposes to strengthen solidarity among Asean countries in Qatar and to promote Asean-Qatar co-operation, the ACD has organised many activities to contribute to the enhancement of mutual understanding and strengthening the friendly relations of cooperation between the Asean countries and Qatar in all fields, he added.

Ambassador Phan called on "all Asean people in Qatar to do their best to contribute to the development of friendship and cooperation between Asean countries and the State of Qatar for the mutual interest of our people."

By RAYNALD C RIVERA – The Peninsula

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