June 3

DEPUTY Minister for Investment and Foreign Economic Relations and Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) Governor for Myanmar U Than Aung Kyaw joined the 15th ERIA Governing Board Meeting which was held via video-conferencing at the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations, Nay Pyi Taw.

The meeting was attended by ERIA governors who are deputy ministers, permanent secretaries, director-generals and professors from ASEAN Member States, Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea and New Zealand, and ERIA academic advisory council members, ASEAN SecretaryGeneral and senior officials also joined the meeting. The meeting was chaired by Professor Dr Cielito F. Habito from Ateneo de Manila University of the Philippines.

At the opening session, Professor Dr Cielito F. Habito, Chairperson of the ERIA Governing Board, Professor Hidetoshi Nishimura, President of ERIA and Dato Paduka Lim Jock Hoi, Secretary-General of ASEAN gave the remarks.

After that, Chief Economist of ERIA, Prof Fukunari Kimura presented the impacts of recent global developments on the ASEAN and East Asia region, and Senior Policy Fellow of ERIA, Prof Jun Arima presented the East Asia energy policy research roadmap for 2022-2023. Then, ERIA governors exchanged views on the impacts of global developments on the ASEAN and East Asia region and gave guidance on ERIA’s 2022 activities.

At the meeting, the deputy minister appreciated the ERIA’s achievements for 2021 and the proposal for 2022. Regarding the implementation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement, he mentioned that Myanmar already entered into force bilaterally with 10 members of RCEP countries, and Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar have been granted transition periods to fulfil the commitments of some RCEP provisions. Therefore, he requested ERIA to provide the capacity building programme for Myanmar, especially in institutional and legal capacity enhancement within the transition period.

Officials from Foreign Economic Relations Department also attended the meeting.— MNA