Among these are an initiative to support the development of the ASEAN Single Window, which will create a common system throughout ASEAN for entry of goods, facilitating trade within ASEAN and between ASEAN and the United States.
Ministers will also work to establish a framework agreement on sanitary and phytosanitary issues to foster increased trade in agricultural goods, an important sector in which trade is largely complementary.
The parties also will work together to support the development of harmonized standards for pharmaceutical registration and approval, which will speed the delivery of innovative medicines to ASEAN patients.
The ASEAN region is commercially and strategically vital to the United States. With almost 600 million people and a combined GDP of $2.7 trillion, the ASEAN economies constitute the sixth largest economic group in the world.
ASEAN members include Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
The U.S.-ASEAN TIFA will build on the strong trade relations the United States already has with this region. Two–way trade totaled $149 billion in 2005, having increased by 9 percent from the previous year and by about 75 percent over the last decade.
In addition, U.S. foreign direct investment in ASEAN countries reached nearly $80 billion in 2004 (the latest available data), an increase of 13 percent since 2003.
ASEAN members are active participants in the Doha Development Agenda negotiations. The ASEAN Ministers issued a strong statement of support for the Doha Round at the Asia – Europe Meeting (ASEM) meeting.
U.S. Trade Representative
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