JAKARTA - The meeting of the economic ministries of the ASEAN +3 countries resulted in five agreements on cooperative measures to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. The agreement was formulated in the virtual AEM + 3 meeting held on Thursday (4/6).
Minister of Trade Agus Suparmanto said that stronger cooperation between ASEAN, China, Japan, and Korea was needed to improve the economy. "The cooperation is also expected to strengthen the resilience and sustainability of the economy in the ASEAN Plus Three region in the future," Agus said.
The five points agreed at the meeting are as follows: First, keeping trade and investment open and facilitating trade activities to strengthen regional value chains (RVC) and maintaining the availability of essential goods and services. Second, making efforts to overcome non-tariff barriers. Third, facilitate the movement of people for business through the preparation of guidelines at the national level.
Fourth, support MSMEs and the affected sectors, and encourage these sectors to utilize technology and the digital economy. Fifth, support the full completion of RCEP this year. (LK)