KUALA LUMPUR: East Asia Participating Countries are proposing initiatives to maintain the region’s economic prosperity amid global uncertainties according to Australia’s Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell.
Minister Farrell emphasised the need for imaginative approaches to ensure prosperity in an unstable world during his remarks after the 13th East Asia Summit Economic Ministers’ Meeting.
ASEAN Economic Ministers Meeting chair Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz highlighted that ASEAN’s two-way merchandise trade with non-ASEAN East Asia Summit participating countries reached $1.9 trillion in 2024.
Foreign direct investment inflows from non-ASEAN East Asia Summit participating countries into ASEAN stood at $92.8 billion during the same period.
Tengku Zafrul stated these figures reaffirm the importance of East Asia Summit participating countries as ASEAN’s trusted economic partners.
He noted the numbers highlight immense potential for deepening trade investment and people-to-people connectivity across the region in his opening remarks.
The ministers exchanged views on the regional and global economic outlook for 2026 during their discussions.
They deliberated on advancing environmental social and corporate governance-driven economic integration under the ASEAN Economic Community Strategic Plan 2026–2030.
Participants also reviewed recent economic developments and their implications for ASEAN’s trade investment and integration agenda.
The East Asia Summit involved eighteen participating countries including the ten ASEAN member states and eight dialogue partners.
Dialogue partners comprise Australia China India Japan New Zealand Russia South Korea and the United States. – Bernama