Asian economic cooperation was the topic of discussion at a
Sunday morning roundtable meeting of the heads of the Asia
Cooperation Dialogues (ACD), Boao Forum for Asia (BFA), Northeast
Asia Economic Conference Organizing Committee, South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Shanghai Cooperation
Organization (SCO) and UNDP Tumen Secretariat.
The meeting was arranged during the BFA
Annual Conference 2004 to strengthen information exchange and
cooperation between these Asian subregional organizations.
Asian economic cooperation and integration is one of the main
themes at this year’s BFA conference.
“The Boao Forum seeks to provide such a platform,” said BFA
Secretary-General Long Yongtu. “I hope such meeting can be standard
in subsequent BFA sessions.”
Long said that subregional organizations have developed quickly
in the past several years. “The SAARC has made progress in free
trade agreement negotiations, and the SCO set up its secretariat in
Beijing in January, expanding its areas from politics and regional
security to economic issues.”
Sorajak Kasemsuvan, Thailand’s vice minister for foreign
affairs, said Asian economic cooperation is crucial and urgent. He
spoke on behalf of ACD, which was proposed and is coordinated by
Thailand.
“The BFA and ACD are sister forums: they target the same goal of
promoting Asian cooperation,” said Kasemsuvan. “BFA is on track
one, focusing on non-governmental cooperation, while ACD is the
track two, aiming to strengthen government-level collaboration.
They are complementary.”
Asia has numerous subregional organizations devoted to solving
regional issues in economy, politics, culture and the like. A
growing trend in regionalism in economic issues stems from the
stagnation of multilateral trade negotiations.
(China.org.cn by staff reporter Tang Fuchun April 25, 2004)