Jakarta – Le Luong Minh, Secretary-General of ASEAN, held discussions with Mr. Setsuo Iuchi, Chief Representative for ASEAN and South Asia of Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) yesterday on the forthcoming 7th Dialogue between the ASEAN SG and the Federation of Japanese Chambers of Commerce and Industry in ASEAN (FJCCIA) to be held in June in the Philippines.

Both sides exchanged views on the current progress of ASEAN integration and discussed issues of key importance to Japanese investors in the integration process. These include customs procedures; liberalisation of services; protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs); ASEAN+1 FTAs; harmonisation of standards; infrastructure development; and small and medium enterprise (SME) development.

The FJCCIA Dialogue will discuss the follow-up to issues and recommendations raised by the Japanese business community as well as provide them an opportunity to share their views and inputs on the ASEAN post-2015 scenario. This annual dialogue has been held since its commencement in 2008 and provides a forum for Japanese businesses to raise issues on ASEAN economic integration. ASEAN’s economic integration efforts command strong interest among Japanese investors.

This open Dialogue between the FJCCIA and ASEAN SG has come to represent a good model for ASEAN public-private sector engagement. FJCCIA also works actively with AMS to resolve issues in areas of mutual interest and provides support in the form of seminars and workshops to enhance capacity on various issues.

FJCCIA is an umbrella body representing 5,647 Japanese member companies based in ASEAN countries. Japan is the second-largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow to ASEAN after the EU, and remains the second largest trading partner of ASEAN. Source: ASEAN Secretariat