Piyush Goyal welcomes collective action to mitigate COVID & balanced trading system at EAS

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal on Friday participated in the 8th East Asia Summit Economic (EAS) Ministers’ Meeting and welcomed collective action to mitigate COVID-19 pandemic and ensured transparent and balanced trading system for economic growth.

The 8th EAS was attended by Economic ministers from the 10 ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) member states and eight other countries including India. The ministers have emphasized on the importance of strengthening regional supply chains to make them resilient and less vulnerable to shocks besides advancing sustainable economic growth.

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Commitment reaffirmed to expand trade and investment

They reaffirmed their commitment to expand trade and investment, minimise interruptions to trade and global supply chains and facilitate supply chain connectivity. This includes essential goods like medical supplies, medicines, including vaccines, food, commodities and other essential supplies and services in the region.

The ministers further acknowledged the importance of promoting the essential movement of people across borders, without undermining each country's efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in order to stabilise the trade and investment, according to a joint statement released after the virtual meeting on Friday. They further said the COVID-19 global pandemic has created unprecedented challenges that have caused not only loss of lives but also economic downturn for most countries around the world.

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The 8th East Asia Summit Economic Ministers' Meeting (EAS-EMM) was chaired by Vietnam's Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh and attended by Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal besides economic ministers from Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand,  South Korea, the Russian Federation and the United States.

"The ministers underscored the importance of further strengthening regional economic cooperation, and resolved to take actions aimed at mitigating the economic impact of the pandemic on global and regional trade and investment, ensuring macroeconomic and financial stability and restoring business confidence in the region," said the joint statement.

The Ministers welcomed the growing trade and strong investment performance among EAS economies with the combined nominal GDP reaching 51.6 trillion dollars in 2019, marking an increase by 4.1 percent from previous year. They further welcomed the regional initiatives to mitigate the impact of pandemic including the establishment of the ASEAN COVID-19 Response Fund as well as the work towards the establishment of the ASEAN Regional Reserve of Medical Supplies and the Standard Operating Procedures for Public Health Emergencies Response.

Furthermore, the ministers also acknowledged the important role of initiatives, which aim to ensure the equitable global distribution of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines.

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(With ANI inputs)