Economic ministers will discuss the preparation of the East Asia Free-Trade Agree-ment during the upcoming Asean meeting before seeking endorsement from leaders by the end of the year.

Caretaker Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, who will represent Thailand at the Asean Economic Minis-ters' meeting from next Tuesday to Friday in Kuala Lumpur, said yesterday that the FTA will be at the top of the agenda.

Asean economic ministers are set to meet with their counterparts from China, Japan and South Korea to get an update on the study of the prospective FTA.

Asean ministers will submit their recommendation to the leaders for their summit this year. If the leaders endorse the proposal, they will proceed with the world's biggest FTA, covering almost two billion people.

Asean ministers will also have separate meetings with ministers from India, Australia, New Zealand and the US. They plan to discuss the Asean-US Trade and Investment Framework Arrangement (Tifa) with the US trade representative. Tifa is a step towards the creation of an FTA. The stalemate in the World Trade Organisation's multilateral trade negotiations has prompted countries to shift their attention to bilateral FTA talks to pry open the markets of their trading partners.

Apiradi Tantraporn, director-general of Trade Negotiations Department, said the Asean ministers would discuss tighter integration of their service sectors under the framework of the Asean Economic Community.  The move is part of Asean Vision 2020, which aims to turn Asean into a borderless region. Asean Vision will include cooperation in economic, political and social spheres.

The Asean Free-Trade Area has been progressing smoothly as countries agree to cut tariffs on goods by 2010. They plan to expand the cooperation into investments.

Somkid said Asean ministers will also discuss recommendations to eliminate non-tariff barriers for goods within Asean; agree to increase the number of goods subject to speedy tariff cuts, in which Thailand proposed tapioca in the programme; and endorse the road map to improve logistics in the region.

Ministers will also discuss the institutionalisation of Asean cooperation with the eminent persons group. These recommendations will be forwarded to the Asean summit taking place in Cebu in the Philippines in December.