Myanmar President U Thein Sein called on the member states to exert efforts to build up the ASEAN Economic Community next year. He added that ASEAN needs to raise awareness and make people and enterprises get involved and acknowledge the support of its dialogue partners to realize the community. The Ministers will focus their discussions on the implementation of the capacity building programs of the four ASEAN member states - Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, removing non-tariff barriers, creating favorable conditions for trade in ASEAN, and further customs integration.

The ASEAN Economic Ministers will have a 2^nd meeting Wednesday on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership between the 10 ASEAN countries and their partners – China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, India, Australia and New Zealand – to discuss a large-scale agreement between ASEAN and partners of the Free Trade Agreement.