Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan discussed measures to enhance cooperation between ASEAN and Mercosur with his Argentine counterpart Susana Malcorra on April 7.
Buenos Aires (VNA) – Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan discussedmeasures to enhance cooperation between the Association of the Southeast AsianNations (ASEAN) and Southern Common Market (Mercosur) with his Argentinecounterpart Susana Malcorra on April 7.
Malcorra invitedBalakrishnan to attend a meeting with his Mercosur counterparts to assess theASEAN-Mercosur cooperation, said a joint statement of the Argentine ForeignMinistry.
During his visitto Argentina, Minister Balakrishnan also pledged to boost Singapore’s trade andinvestment with the South American country, as well as support affiliations in education,culture and technical training.
In June 2015, theMercosur-ASEAN Chamber of Commerce was launched in Montevideo, Uruguay,followed by the foundation of a research centre two months later. The centreaims to create favourable conditions for promoting trade and economic relationsbetween the two blocs.
Last October, Uruguayan Foreign MinisterRodolfo Nin Novoa led a business delegation of Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguayto visit Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia.
Establishedin 1991, Mercosur currently groups Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela andParaguay.
Asthe fifth largest economic bloc of the world and one of the top manufacturersof food, materials and energy, Mercosur boasts a market of 275 millionconsumers and 3.3 trillion USD worth of GDP, accounting for 83 percent of theSouth America’s total. Intra-bloc trade reaches nearly 62 billion USD eachyear.-VNA
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The 19th ASEAN-India Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) took place in New Delhi, India on April 5-6, discussing ways to promote cooperation between the two sides.
The Republic of Korea (RoK), China and Japan agreed on May 3 to reinforce the regional financial safety net, along with members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), by launching a new financing facility programme meant to extend greater support in case of a financial crisis.
A technical issue combined with an extreme heatwave was blamed for a series of explosions at a military base that killed 20 soldiers and injured several others in Cambodia on April 27, the country’s Ministry of Defence said in a May 2 statement as reported by the Xinhua news agency.
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The ASEAN Future Forum 2024 (AFF 2024) entered its second plenary session in Hanoi on the afternoon of April 23, discussing ways to ensure comprehensive security for the people-centred ASEAN Community.
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The Thai Government is being urged to increase the proportion of renewable power generation to more than the target of 50% set in the power development plan (PDP).
The Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) of Indonesia on April 21 lifted its tsunami advisory issued previously following the eruption of Mount Ruang in Sitaro district of North Sulawesi province.
Thailand expects to export about 1 million tonnes of durian, valued at an estimated 130 billion THB (3.53 billion USD) this year, with most of the shipments to China, according to Minister of Agriculture Thammanat Prompao.
The 72nd meeting of the ASEAN Working Group on Intellectual Property Cooperation (AWGIPC) and related meetings are being held by the Ministry of Science and Technology’s Intellectual Property Office (IPO) of Vietnam in the central city of Da Nang on April 22-26.
Enhancing regional food security and tackling the pressing challenges of climate change will be key agendas defining Malaysia’s ASEAN Chairmanship in 2025, Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat (lower house) Johari Abdul told the press on April 19.
Flags of the ASEAN members. (Photo: AFP)
