Dr. Wah Wah Maung, Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations attended the Eighteenth Meeting of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA)Joint Committee (18^th FJC) which was held from 3^rd August to 4^th August, 2022 in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

The Meeting was co-chaired by Mr. Yusdiman Saman, Acting Assistant Director, Trade Division, Ministry of Finance and Economy, Brunei Darussalam, Ms. Juliana Nam, Assistant Secretary, FTA Policy and Implementation Branch, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, for Australia and Mr. Keawe Woodmore, Deputy Director General, FTA Implementation Unit, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, for New Zealand.

In the Meeting, the FJC welcomed the progress negotiations of the Subsidiary Bodies and discussed on the reports of Subsidiary Bodies under Joint Committee for the AANZFTA Upgrade Negotiations. The Meeting provided the guidance on the issues submitted by the Subsidiary Bodies for the FJC’s consideration.

The Meeting noted the progress of FJC Work Programme and discussed the successful implementation of the AANZFTA Implementation Support Programme (AIS), which is a successor programme of the AANZFTA Economic Cooperation Support Programme (AECSP).

The Meeting also noted the outcomes of the 9^th ASEAN-CER Integration Partnership Forum (IPF) which was held virtually on 20 June 2022 with the topic of “Trade and Sustainable Development”.

The Senior Officials from Foreign Economic Relations Department also attended the Meeting.