14th Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia Governing Board Meeting held

Deputy Minister for Investment and Foreign Economic Relations and Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) Governor for Myanmar U Than Aung Kyaw joined the 14th ERIA Governing Board Meeting which was held via videoconferencing on 12 October 2021 from the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations, Nay Pyi Taw.
The Meeting was attended by ERIA governors who are Deputy Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Director Generals and Professors from ASEAN Member States, Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea and New Zealand, and ERIA academic advisory council members, ASEAN Secretary General and senior officials. The meeting was chaired by Mrs Hajah Mariah Haji Yahya, Director General of Economic Planning and Statistics, Ministry of Finance and Economy of Brunei Darussalam.
Mrs Hajah Mariah Haji Yahya, Interim Chairperson of the ERIA Governing Board, Professor Hidetoshi Nishimura, President of ERIA and Dato Paduka Lim Jock Hoi, Secretary General of ASEAN gave the remarks at the meeting. Then, the chair introduced the New Governors from Brunei Darussalam, Myanmar and the Philippines and the meeting selected Dr. Cielito F. Habito, Professor of Economics, Ateneo de Manila University and Senior Fellow of the Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development (ACERD) as the new Chairperson of the ERIA Governing Board.
At the Meeting, Chief Economist of ERIA, Prof. Fukunari Kimura presented the Aftermath of COVID-19, its Impact on the Global Economy and the Region, and Senior Policy Fellow of ERIA, Prof. Jun Arima presented the EAS Energy Policy Research Roadmap in 2020-2022. Then, ERIA governors discussed the ERIA’s future research activities related to regional economic development agenda.
The Deputy Minister commented that COVID-19 pandemic gave the opportunity to equip the economy with digital technology. However, industries, especially for SMEs, are still encountering the challenges like data security and secure online payments. He highlighted that ERIA’s future research works should pave the way for SMEs to promote the digital technology to enjoy the regional initiatives and narrowing the digital divide between ASEAN and East Asia countries.
Moreover, the deputy minister supported the ERIA’s proposal of Research programme in RCEP phase 1 with the objective of understanding the impact of RCEP in ASEAN and East Asia, and also underscored that the recommendation of the study would contribute the formulation of the effective and efficient work programme for implementation of RCEP.
Officials from Foreign Economic Relations Department also attended the meeting. —MNA