The ASEAN finance and central bank deputies meeting kicked off here on Tuesday in order to update financial cooperation toward an ASEAN Economic Community by 2015, according to a press release of Cambodia's Ministry of Economy and Finance.
The meeting would focus discussion on financial cooperation in the ASEAN framework in order to continue expediting financial integration toward the establishment of ASEAN Economic Community in 2015, it said.
It would review the progress of the Roadmap for Monetary and Financial Integration of ASEAN including Capital Market Development, Financial Services Liberalization, Capital Account Liberalization, and ASEAN Capital Market Forum.
Also, the meeting would discuss the progress of ASEAN Finance Cooperation in the sectors of insurance, customs, taxation, countering terrorism financing, anti-money laundering, and ASEAN economic surveillance process.
The press release said the results of the meeting will be submitted to the 16th ASEAN Finance Ministers' meeting, which will be held here on March 30, for approval.
Speaking at the Tuesday's meeting, Vongsey Vissoth, secretary general of Cambodia's Ministry of Economy and Finance, said the meeting was very important for the development of Cambodian economy and regional economies as a whole.
"Moreover, it will help find a joint policy to respond to the global financial crisis and risk," he said. "As the chair of ASEAN, Cambodia has been seeking to promote financing mechanism for infrastructure development in order to narrow development gap among member states."
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam./.