Economic ministers from 13 East Asian nations issued a joint statement Friday calling for a new round of trade liberalization talks under the World Trade Organization in November in Qatar.
The joint statement was issued at the end of a one-day economic ministers' conference involving representatives from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Japan, China and South Korea. The meeting is known as the ASEAN-plus-three meeting.
The ministers also agreed to set up six multilateral projects in line with priorities and formula established during their previous meeting in Chiang Mai, Thailand, in October, sources said.
In the joint statement, the ministers backed the launch of the new WTO round at a WTO ministerial meeting in Doha, Qatar. The ASEAN-plus-three meeting of economic ministers is also calling for antidumping and investment measures to be included in a "sufficiently broad-based agenda" for the new trade round, the statement shows.