DANANG, Vietnam — ASEAN leaders warned Wednesday of a widening gap between Southeast Asia’s richest and poorest nations that could threaten the region’s drive for a single market.
Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam have recorded high growth rates but their per capita gross domestic product remains the lowest among the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
“The danger of (a) widening development gap remains a major obstacle to ASEAN’s future development, especially given the context of expanded ASEAN economic integration,” Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said in opening remarks to an annual meeting of the bloc’s trade and commerce ministers.
ASEAN is working towards establishing by 2015 a single market and manufacturing base of about 600 million people, a goal which was spurred by competition from China and India.
The gap between ASEAN’s rich and poor members “is quite wide” and could undermine efforts to create the single market, ASEAN secretary general Surin Pitsuwan told reporters.
“A house divided by such a gap is not stable,” he told reporters. –(AFP)
July 2025
Nutrition Month
“Give us much more than P50 increase
for proper nutrition!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO Constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations
against serious violations of
Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government (NUG)
of Myanmar. Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideosturesVideos
July
3 July – International Day of Cooperatives
3 July – International Plastic Bag Free Day
5 July – World Youth Skills Day
7 July – Global Forgiveness Day
11 July – World Population Day
17 July – World Day for International Justice
28 July – World Nature Conservation Day
30 July – World Day against Trafficking in Persons
Monthly Observances:
Schools Safety Month
Nutrition Month
National Disaster Consciousness Month
Weekly Observances:
Week 2: Cultural Communities Week
Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise
Development Week
Week 3: National Science and
Technology Week
National Disability Prevention and
Rehabilitation Week
July 1-7:
National Culture Consciousness Week
July 13-19:
Philippines Business Week
Week ending last Saturday of July:
Arbor Week
Daily Observances:
First Saturday of July:
International Cooperative Day
in the Philippines
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