Representatives of 13 private-sector organisations from 11 Asian economies gathered at a one-day Asian Business Summit in Tokyo on March 15 in an effort to strengthen economic integration in the region through trade and investment liberalisation.
Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) Chairman Vu Tien Loc led the Vietnamese delegation to the summit held by the Japan Business Federation, commonly known as Nippon Keidanren.
“The world economy has long been led by the United States and Europe ”, Keidanren Chairman Fujio Mitarai told participants in his opening speech. “But in the first half of the 21st century, the dynamism in Asia will drastically change the paradigm of the global economy”, he said.
For his part, Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said Japan will work to accelerate economic partnership agreement talks with Australia , India and the Republic of Korea .
In addition to trade, participants called for cooperation between governments and the private sector in developing key regional infrastructure including transportation such as roads and railways.
Participants also touched on the issued pf climate change, energy and intellectual property rights.
The compiled recommendations will be submitted to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and international conferences such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit to be hosted by Japan later this year./.