ASEAN promotes economic cooperation with Australia, New Zealand
Parties to the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA), gathered in Semarang, Indonesia, for the 28th ASEAN Economic Ministers – Closer Economic Relations (AEM-CER) Consultation, commenced the signing of the 2nd Protocol to Amend the Agreement Establishing the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (“2nd Protocol”).
The signing of the 2nd Protocol to Amend the Agreement Establishing the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area. (Photo: asean.org)
Jakarta (VNA) 🍨– Parties to the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA), gathered in Semarang, Indonesia, for the 28th ASEAN Economic Ministers – Closer Economic Relations (AEM-CER) Consultation, commenced the signing of the 2nd Protocol to Amend the Agreement Establishing the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (“2nd Protocol”).
Economic ministers from the four ASEAN member states, namely Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, together with their counterparts from Australia and New Zealand, signed the 2nd Protocol, which upgrades the original AANZFTA Agreement which entered into force on January 1, 2010. The rest of the ASEAN member states will sign the 2nd Protocol in due course.
The signing of the 2nd Protocol is a strong demonstration of the Parties’ determination to ensure that the AANZFTA, which is the first region-to-region FTA for both ASEAN and Australia and New Zealand, remains to be the gold standard of ASEAN’s free trade agreements.
This is the second time that the AANZFTA is being amended following the signing of the Agreement Establishing in ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area in February 2009.
♐ Official data showed that two-way trade between ASEAN and Australia rose by 38.7% from 75.6 billion USD from 2020-2021 to 104.8 billion in 2021-2022 while bilateral trade between ASEAN and New Zealand also increased 37.34% from 12.24 billion in 2021 to 16.81 billion USD in 2022. FDI flows from Australia and New Zealand poured into ASEAN reached 19.7 billion USD and 51.48 million USD in 2022, up 4.86% and 1.84%, respectively./.
The 12th ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) – Canada Consultation took place in Semarang, Indonesia on August 20 under the co-chair of Indonesian Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan and Canadian Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development Mary Ng.
Vietnam attended the consultations between ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) and the EU, Canada, the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and Hong Kong (China) that took place in Semarang, Indonesia on August 20 within the framework of the ongoing 55th AEM Meeting.
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Deputy Speaker of the Hungarian National Assembly Istvan Jakab expressed his hope for further deepening Hungary’s ties with ASEAN countries and called for their support for Hungary’s accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia.
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Indonesia’s waste generation is projected to exceed 50 million tonnes in 2025. Of the total, more than 20 million tonnes could potentially enter the ocean through rivers, coastal areas, small islands, ports, and marine activities, and thereby, pose a risk to coastal ecosystems and marine biota.
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The signing of the 2nd Protocol to Amend the Agreement Establishing the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area. (Photo: asean.org) 
