KOTA BARU: Asean senior officials have expressed confidence that the draft of the Post-2015 Economic Vision and Plan will 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 yesterday, he said the discussion on the preparation of the draft was progressing well and the commitment from the 10 member countries was 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.

Bernama reported that 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.

International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, meanwhile, asked the younger generation to grab the opportunities available when the AEC is launched by year-end.

“The youth has a distinct advantage in terms of expertise and information technology literate to enable them to be competitive,” he said at the AEC Outreach programme at the Universiti Malaysia Kelantan.

The Asean Economic Ministers are attending their retreat here over the weekend.