The 47th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Economic ministers’ meeting gets underway in Kuala Lumpur. The talks are attempting to put the finishing touches on the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community by the year's end while also pushing closer ties with its leading trading partners like China.
Economic ministers from ASEAN and China held a meeting on Sunday. Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said that both sides want to complete an upgraded version of the China-ASEAN free trade agreement before the end of this year.
Gao said the two sides reached a consensus on a series of matters, including the building of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and eight measures proposed by China to strengthen bilateral trade and economic cooperation. The series of meetings will end on Tuesday.