The World Economic Forum of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will commence at the National Convention Centre in Hanoi, Vietnam, today.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe arrived in Hanoi yesterday evening to take part in the World Economic Forum, which will go on until September 13.
The meeting will address strategic issues of national and regional significance under three thematic pillars, namely, entrepreneurship to craft new approaches to regional and global governance, entrepreneurship to drive economic and business dynamism, and entrepreneurship to shape social inclusion. During the 50th anniversary of ASEAN in 2017, the focus on entrepreneurship and the Fourth Industrial Revolution was discussed.
The ASEAN consists of Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Darussalam, Vietnam, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Cambodia as member states.
Sri Lanka has already started negotiating FTAs with ASEAN member states. Sri Lanka and Singapore signed an FTA in January 2018 and negotiations are ongoing for a Thailand - Sri Lanka FTA, while FTA processes are ongoing with Malaysia and Indonesia too. The total investment from ASEAN countries in Sri Lanka was around US$ 2.4 billion between 2005 and 2017, and the total trade between Sri Lanka and ASEAN member states was around US$ 3.7 billion in 2017.
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