U.S. Supports “ASEAN Economic Community: From Indonesia 2011 to Cambodia 2012” Workshop

Sunday, January 29, 2012

(U.S Embassy)—As Cambodia takes over the Chairmanship of ASEAN in 2012, the country will face unique challenges associated with steering ASEAN’s economic integration plan.  For Cambodia, this gives the country the opportunity to shape the economic discussion.  As former ASEAN Chair, Indonesia learned valuable lessons about this process.  In order to see a smooth transition of ASEAN leadership and give Cambodia the best chance to succeed, the U.S. sponsored a two-day summit entitled “ASEAN Economic Community: From Indonesia 2011 to Cambodia 2012.”
In his opening remarks at the workshop, U.S. Chargé d’Affaires, Jeff Daigle, said “The United States is pleased to be working closely with ASEAN member states to advance ASEAN’s economic integration goals, to facilitate trade with ASEAN’s external partners, and to boost investment, capacity, and economic development throughout the region."

The workshop, a joint State Department and USAID collaboration, focused on transfer of technical economic knowledge from Indonesian experts to their Cambodian counterparts.  The participants also heard from representatives of the Asia Development Bank, the Trade Representative from Thailand and from members of the Royal Cambodian Government.