Businesses of Vietnam and other ASEAN-member countries reviewed the implementation of the bloc’s integration roadmap in the electrical/electronics industry.

Electricity and electronics is one of 12 prioritised sectors for regional integration, said Le Quang Tan, head of the Vietnamese delegation of Senior Economic Officials (SEOM) and Deputy Director of Multilateral Trade Policy Department.

Over the past six years of development, the industry has grown steadily, attracting a large amount of investment and skilled workers, and contributing one-fifth of ASEAN’s total export value, he said.

In this regard, he affirmed the need to establish a common market for the regional electrical/electronics industry as well as common production for cooperation and development of all ASEAN members

Subash Pillai, Director of the ASEAN Secretariat’s Market Integration Directorate, called on regional countries to remove trade barriers and non-tariff policies.

Also at the forum, participants discussed issues related to ASEAN’s free trade and competitiveness in East Asia, investment attraction in electronics, development of support industry and human resources, and expansion of production networks.

The proposals and recommendations raised at the event will be submitted to the ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Meeting scheduled for February in Laos.