On 15-17 January2018, the 40th East Asia Business Council (EABC) series meetings were held in Singapore. ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) representatives participated in the working groups of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), e-commerce, MSME and other related meetings of the EABC. The above mentioned meetings were chaired respectively by Phairush Burapachaisri, Vice Chairman of Thai Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade of Thailand, Jeffret Goh, CEO of Network for Electronic Transfers (Singapore) Pte Ltd, and Xu Liang, Deputy Director General of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT). More than 40 participants from members of EABC, ASEAN-Korea Centre (AKC), ASEAN-Japan Centre (AJC), Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat (TCS) etc., attended the events.

The representative from EABC Thailand updated on the RCEP negotiation process, especially the requests from business in areas of trade in goods, trade in services, investment, dispute-settlements and e-commerce, and so on. The meeting reached consensus on the EABC recommendations for the 22rd round of RCEP negotiation on chapters of Government Procurement and International Trade Remedies.

The representative from EABC China made a presentation on Trade and Investment E-Platform which CCPIT is now constructing, and elaborated on the purpose, background of constructing such platform, its structure, and recent development. He mentioned the difficulties while compiling E-Book for Customs Procedures, and hoped the EABC members positively provide relevant material and fund to support within their capability.

Representative of ACC briefed on the meeting about its ongoing activities in 2018 and the working plan to promote MSMEs. ACC also invited the EABC members, AJC, AKC and TCS to attend the “Belt and Road” E-Commerce Forum held in this May in Jakarta, Indonesia.

The EABC members highly evaluated the activities taken by the three Centres and hoped to establish synergies and strengthen collaboration with the three Centers to better serve the enterprises in the region.

At Singapore, ACC representatives also participated upon invitation in the ASEAN Outlook Conference, and visited IBM Studios and Supply Chain City, and discussed with the?participants on further strengthening of synergies and interaction with the EABC members.

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