MFA leads initiative on digital trade
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MFA leads initiative on digital trade

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The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is aiming to define a Thai-led Asean initiative on the digital economy this year so the bloc can advance a framework that boosts trade and transactions in the region, says a senior Thai official.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday published a clip of an interview with Eksiri Pintaruchi, MFA permanent secretary, who attended the Asean Ministerial Meeting retreat with Minister Maris Sangiampongsa in Langkawi, Malaysia.

The retreat, held yesterday, was part of an informal meeting under Malaysia's Asean chairmanship, which assumed the role after Laos passed the torch.

In the clip, Ms Eksiri said the meeting also talked about pushing forward many initiatives this year, including the Thai-led initiative called the Asean Digital Economy Framework Agreement (Defa).

She said Thailand as previous chair and a mediator has experience in this kind of negotiation.

She said Defa is a regional agreement that will manage guidelines for the digital economy.

Defa will be the world's first-ever regional framework on the digital economy, she says.

"With the rising regional importance of the digital economy, having a framework that helps to enable digital trade and transactions, and taking care of cyber security, becomes more important, and it is important to Asean as well," she said.

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