NDO - While ASEAN is speeding up construction of its community,economic co-operation between the bloc and China, the Republic of Korea (RoK) and Japan (ASEAN+3) has become vital, contributing to promoting economic, trade and investment ties between ASEAN and the Northeast Asian economic partners and stimulatingeconomic growth in Asia.

ASEAN+3 was established in 1997 and officially launched in 1999 with a long-term target of building an East Asia community in which ASEAN plays a significant role. Co-operation has seen stable yet rapid development while achieving numerous results. ASEAN countries' leaders value positive co-operation and the important support of the three partners to ASEAN in building the ASEAN community, enhancing connectivity, narrowing development gaps and responding to shared regional challenges.

The three partners commit to continue their support for the bloc in building a sustainably developed and further integrated community, creating a basis for regional peace and stability and realising the ASEAN Vision after 2015. They also support the bloc's central role in the forming regional structure.

ASEAN and China have become leading trade and investmentpartners of each other. China has been the largest trade partner of ASEAN since 2009 while the bloc has been the third largest trade partner of the country since 2010. The Regional ComprehensiveEconomic Partnership (RCEP), whose negotiations are under way, will facilitate freer circulations of goods, services, investment and people over a larger space. It will bring new economic interests and lead to the forming of integrated value chains in Asia.

According to the China-ASEAN Business Council, in 2014 the China-ASEAN trade turnover reached US$480.4 billion, accounting for 11.16% of China's total external trade value - a rise of over 10.66% in 2013. Bilateral trade growth was 8.3%, in which China's imports from ASEAN countries were valued at US$208.3 billion, a 4.4% rise, and its exports to those countries totaled US$272 billion, an 11.5% increase. The two sides are striving to reach US$500 billion in two-way trade this year. Vietnam is the second largest trade partner of China among ASEAN countries, after Malaysia.

The economic and trade co-operation between ASEAN and Japan continues to grow and Japan remains the bloc's third largest trade partner with US$240.8 billion in two-way trade. Japan's foreign direct investment (FDI) in ASEAN reached US$22.9 billion, making Japan the second largest FDI provider for the bloc, accounting for 18.7% of the bloc's total FDI.

Meanwhile, the RoK is also a leading trade partner of ASEAN with a US$135 billion two-way trade turnover and US$3.5 billion in investments in 2013. Leaders of ASEAN countries and the RoK agreed to elevate bilateral trade to US$200 billion by 2020 by taking advantage of the bilateral free trade agreement signed in 2006.

At the 17th ASEAN+3 Summit in November 2014, leaders of the ASEAN+3 agreed to continue boosting priorities in realising agreed co-operation programmes, particularly those in economics, trade, investment and finance.

To practically deepen ASEAN+3 co-operation, all sides should focus resources to continue implementing the amended ASEAN+3 Co-operation Plan for the 2013-2017 period and contributing to the ASEAN+3 Co-operation Fund to effectively support the co-operation projects.

Maintaining a peaceful and stable environment is a pre-requisite for continued economic development within ASEAN+3 and in Asia as a whole.

By vietnambreakingnews.com

The post Highlights of ASEAN+3 economic co-operation appeared first on Asean Investment | Marc Djandji Blog.