Dr. Wah Wah Maung, Permanent Secretary for Investment and Foreign Economic Relations and SEOM Lead, joined the 36^th SEOM-AUSTR Consultation, the 14^th SEOM-Russia Consultation, the 11^th SEOM-EAS Consultation and the 3^rd SEOM-UK Consultation which were held in Siem Reap, Cambodia on 6 August 2022.

The Meetings were attended by the Senior Economic Officials from ASEAN, Australia, China, Japan, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, the Russian Federation, the United States, the United Kingdom and the officials from ASEAN Secretariat. The Meetings were co-chaired by Mr. Rath Saravuth, Director-General of International Trade, Ministry of Commerce of Cambodia and the Senior Economic Officials from the respective dialogue partners.

The 36^th SEOM-AUSTR Consultation started at 8:30 a.m. At the meeting, the Senior Economic Officials noted the progress in the implementation of the 2021-2022 TIFA and E3 Work Plan and discussed the areas which are included in the 2022-2023 TIFA and E3 Work Plan. They also noted the updates of activities conducted under U.S.-ASEAN Connect and the U.S.’ technical assistance programme on “Inclusive Growth in ASEAN through Innovation, Trade, and E-Commerce (IGNITE)”.

At the 14^th SEOM-Russia Consultation, the Senior Economic Officials discussed the progress of implementation of ASEAN-Russia Trade and Investment Work Programme for 2021 -2025 and Programme of Cooperation between ASEAN and Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) for 2020-2025. 

In the afternoon, the 11^th SEOM-EAS Consultation was held. The Senior Economic Officials exchanged views on the key regional and global economic developments in the post-pandemic era, initiatives in mitigating continued risks to global food and energy security and rising inflationary pressure in the global economy. They noted the ERIA’s paper “East Asia Post Pandemic – An Integrative, Innovative, Inclusive, and Sustainable Region through Digitalization”.

Afterwards, the 3^rd SEOM-UK Consultation was also held. The Senior Economic Officials noted the progress of activities under the ASEAN-UK economic cooperation 2021-2022 and discussed the UK’s proposal on the future ASEAN-UK programming, including economic programming. They endorsed the draft work plan to implement the ASEAN-UK Joint Ministerial Declaration on Future Economic Cooperation.

Together with the Permanent Secretary, the Senior Officials from Foreign Economic Relations Department also participated in the Meetings.