New Zealand, Australia to discuss economic integration with ASEAN

Senior trade and economic officials from Australia, New Zealand and the 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will meet in Australia next week to discuss closer economic integration, New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser announced Friday.

The third CER-ASEAN Integration Partnership Forum, which would take place in Cairns on June 18, aimed at sharing the lessons from the Closer Economic Relations Agreement (CER) between New Zealand and Australia with the wider ASEAN membership, he said.

"New Zealand and Australia have two of the most integrated economies in the world, and for more than 30 years CER has been helping to drive growth and trade on both sides of the Tasman," Groser said in a statement.

"We want to share our experience of CER and its benefits with the ASEAN countries."

The meeting would focus on the CER approach to competition policy and building on the success of the 2009 ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement.

"ASEAN members have set an ambitious timetable for establishing an ASEAN economic community and developing robust competition policies across the 10 member states will be vital to meeting the 2015 deadline," he said.

"New Zealand and Australia have their own national competition policy regimes, but we have worked closely on coordination and enforcement to help create a predictable and competitive environment for business. We hope that sharing our approach to this challenging issue will provide ASEAN members with some useful ideas."