ASEAN foreign ministers meet ahead of leaders' summit

China

ASEAN foreign ministers meet ahead of leaders' summit

2024-10-09 21:19 Last Updated At：23:17

The foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states met on Tuesday in the Lao capital Vientiane, ahead of the three-day talks between leaders of ASEAN and its dialogue partners including China and the United States.

The 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits and Related Summits are underway in Vientiane from Oct 8 to 11, bringing together some 2,000 delegates and about 1,000 journalists from Laos and other countries.

The meetings are held against the backdrop of big global security worries, but also an upbeat economic outlook for Southeast Asia. As a major trading bloc, ASEAN is particularly sensitive to global economic shocks.

"ASEAN concerted effort is needed to respond proactively and effectively to these challenges with a view to maintaining and promoting regional and global peace, stability and prosperity, as well as to maintaining ASEAN relevance and centrality," said Lao Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith.

ASEAN has evolved into a highly integrated economic community and has further boosted its connectivity through the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) free trade deal.

The region is projected to achieve a growth rate of around 4.5 percent this year, demonstrating a strong momentum of resilience.

"There's greater purchasing power because of sustained growth of 4-5 percent. A large part of it is also attributed not just to the consumption growth but also importantly, rising investment, and of course the influence of foreign direct investments. All these are actually spurring a lot of potential for the region," said Prof. Yeah Kim Leng, senior fellow and director of the Economic Studies Programme at the Jeffrey Cheah Institute on Southeast Asia at Sunway University in Malaysia.

European Parliament puts EU-US trade deal on hold over Greenland tariff threats

The European Parliament on Wednesday decided to put on hold approval of the trade deal between the European Union (EU) and the United States following U.S. threats of tariffs linked to Greenland.

Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament's International Trade Committee, said in a statement that the Parliament would suspend work on two legislative proposals related to the deal given the continued and escalating threats, including tariff threats, against Greenland and Denmark.

Under the EU-U.S. trade deal hammered out last July, the European Union would suspend tariffs on all U.S. industrial products and introduce tariff-rate quotas for a wide range of U.S. agri-food products entering the EU market. In return, the United States would apply a 15-percent import tariff on most EU goods. The European Commission subsequently published two legislative proposals aimed at implementing certain tariff aspects of the agreement.