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24 OCTOBER 2025, KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA

Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Dr. Haji Mohd Amin Liew bin Abdullah, Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Minister of Finance and Economy II attended the 26th Meeting of the ASEAN Economic Community Council (26th AECC) held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on the 24th October 2025. The 26th AECC was chaired by His Excellency Senator Tengku Datuk Seri Utama Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Malaysia and attended by the AECC Ministers from ten (10) ASEAN Member States and Timor-Leste.

At the 26th AECC Meeting, the Ministers took note of the progress of work under the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) pillar, including discussions on ASEAN’s economic outlook, progress update on Malaysia’s Priority Economic Deliverables, ASEAN’s sustainability initiatives and ASEAN’s digital transformation agenda. Further, the AECC ministers also endorsed the AEC Outcome documents which are to be submitted to the ASEAN Leaders at the 47th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits scheduled on 26th until 28th October 2025. 

Prior to the 26th AECC Meeting, Ministers also convened a special session on ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA) where Ministers welcomed the substantial conclusion of the DEFA negotiations, which is expected to be signed next year. The DEFA builds upon the Bandar Seri Begawan Roadmap for Digital Transformation which was launched during Brunei Darussalam’s ASEAN Chairmanship in 2021. Among others, DEFA is expected to be the first region-wide digital economy partnership with an objective to facilitate cross-border trade, empower MSMEs, promote collaborative innovation and cooperation on Artificial Intelligence. 

At the Meeting, Yang Berhormat Dato Seri Setia Dr. Haji Mohd Amin Liew bin Abdullah, Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Minister of Finance and Economy II, among others, commended the steady progress of the AEC, especially the conclusion of the upgrade negotiations of the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA) and ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA3.0) . Against the backdrop of geoeconomic uncertainty, the upgrades of the ATIGA and ACFTA3.0 are timely and play a crucial role in strengthening intra-ASEAN trade and investment as well as in upholding the rules-based multilateral trading system, with the WTO at its core. 

The 26th AECC Meeting was preceded by the Preparatory Meeting of the Senior Economic Officials (Prep-SEOM) on 23rd October 2025. The Prep-SEOM Meeting was attended by Yang Mulia Dr Hajah May Fa’ezah binti Haji Ahmad Ariffin, Permanent Secretary (Economy, Trade and Industry) and officers from Trade Division, Ministry of Finance and Economy. 

 -END- 

Prepared by: 

Trade Division, 

Ministry of Finance and Economy 

Email: BruneiSEOM@mofe.gov.bn 

Reference: KKW/TD/ASN:40 

 Date: 25 October 2025   ​  ​