The Director General of the Department of Trade Negotiations of Thailand’s Ministry of Commerce said on Sunday that Thailand is actively preparing to host the 3^rd meeting of ASEAN senior economic experts in the northern province of Chiang Rai next week. The meeting will focus on  measures to speed up the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community, and programs to strengthen economic cooperation with countries that have free trade agreements with ASEAN including China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia, and New Zealand, and countries that have economic cooperation plans, like the US and the EU.