Preparations for the 7 ASEAN + 3

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7.6.2 Preparations for the 7

th SEOM - India Consultations, 25 August 2005, Bangkok, Thailand 102. The Meeting endorsed the provisional agenda for the 7 th SEOM–India Consultations, which appears as ANNEX 45. 7.7 ASEAN – CER 7.7.1 ASEAN–Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area 103. Brunei, the ASEAN Co-chair of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Trade Negotiating Committee AANZTNC, briefed the Meeting on the latest developments on the negotiations for the AANZFTA. The ASEAN Secretariat paper containing the highlights and the reports of the 2 nd and 3 rd meetings of the AANZTNC, held in Auckland on 29 June to 1 July 2005 and in Chiang Mai on 18-20 August 2005, respectively, appears as ANNEX 46. 104. The Meeting exchanged views on the various issues highlighted by Brunei. The following transpired: a The ASEAN Co-Chair stressed the importance of Member Countries actively participating in the TNC discussions and being frank in conveying their difficulties, if any. b After three sessions, the TORs for the Working Groups on ROO, Services, Investment and, Legal and Institutional Issues have yet to be endorsed owing to the difficulty of ASEAN in endorsing the establishment of the proposed Expert Group on Intellectual Property. SEOM was requested to convey to Australia and New Zealand, at the forthcoming SEOM-CER Consultations, that ASEAN’s concerns should be recognised and that the TORs should not be held in abeyance because of the difficult issue of IP. SEOM should also urge Australia and New Zealand that IP be discussed at the TNC. c The difficulty of Member Countries in conducting concurrent negotiations on goods, services and investment because of limited resources should be reiterated to Australia and New Zealand. The previous decision of ASEAN to adopt a single undertaking approach for the AANZFTA but finish the negotiations for TIG-related issues before negotiating services, investment and other issues should be reiterated. d ASEAN’s position on government procurement, competition policy and, labour and environment should be strongly conveyed to Australia and New Zealand. 105. The Meeting endorsed the recommendations enumerated above and agreed to convey them all to Australia and New Zealand at the SEOM-CER Consultations.

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