Asean ministers vow to narrow gap among member nations
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Asean's economic meeting pledged to support the association's new members in order to narrow development gaps between the member countries.
“Asean gives us the privilege of assistance in order to accelerate our economies and to narrow the gap among the countries,” Laos Minister of Industry and Commerce Nam Viyaketh told reporters on the sidelines of the 44th Asean Economic Ministers Meeting as quoted by english.news.cn.
Asean’s original members are Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Membership was later expanded to include Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
The economic ministers’ meeting began in Siem Reap, Cambodia, on Monday and will run until tomorrow, focusing on efforts to narrow the economic gap between Asean’s members and boost equitable economic development in the region.
Addressing the opening session, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said that the development gap among Asean members remained huge and the bloc needed to double its efforts to promote further growth and improve equitable distribution of the fruits of that growth at both national and regional levels.
