KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 (Bernama) — The plunge in global oil prices will not impact the implementation of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), said Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry, Datuk Ir Hamim Samuri.
He said plans for ASEAN to declare itself as a single economic community were moving ahead with speed.
“We are convinced that even the global slump in oil prices will not have an adverse effect towards the realisation of the AEC,” he said at Affin Hwang Capital Conference Series 2015 here today.
He was one of the speakers at the conference.
Hamim said Malaysia, as chair of ASEAN for 2015, was focused on realising the AEC by year-end.
“We aim for ASEAN member states to complete 95 per cent of the integration measures by that date,” he said.
He said the potentials for ASEAN were enormous and if combined with the conclusion of negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the region’s future economic growth would be bright.
“RCEP involves nations with a combined gross domestic product of US$17 trillion, which is larger than the US’s or the European Union’s economy,” he said.
RCEP, formally launched in 2012, is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between ASEAN members and the six states with which ASEAN has existing FTAs (Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand).
He said plans for ASEAN to declare itself as a single economic community were moving ahead with speed.
“We are convinced that even the global slump in oil prices will not have an adverse effect towards the realisation of the AEC,” he said at Affin Hwang Capital Conference Series 2015 here today.
He was one of the speakers at the conference.
Hamim said Malaysia, as chair of ASEAN for 2015, was focused on realising the AEC by year-end.
“We aim for ASEAN member states to complete 95 per cent of the integration measures by that date,” he said.
He said the potentials for ASEAN were enormous and if combined with the conclusion of negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the region’s future economic growth would be bright.
“RCEP involves nations with a combined gross domestic product of US$17 trillion, which is larger than the US’s or the European Union’s economy,” he said.
RCEP, formally launched in 2012, is a proposed free trade agreement (FTA) between ASEAN members and the six states with which ASEAN has existing FTAs (Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand).
