Premier Li Keqiang encouraged efforts to build an economic community of East Asia when speaking at the 20th ASEAN-China, Japan and Republic of Korea (10+3) leaders' meeting in Manila Tuesday.

Building an East Asia economic community is the key strategic goal of cooperation between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, with China, Japan and the ROK, he said.

It is important to seize the present opportunity to push forward in developing an East Asia economic community to make it a regional growth driver for the world economy, especially when the global economy is still in a sluggish recovery mode and trade protectionism is on the rise across the world, Li said.

Developing the East Asia economic community should adhere to the principle of regional economic integration and regional inclusive growth based on proper consultation, while maintaining ASEAN’s central role in the community, Li said, proposing that cooperation between ASEAN with China, Japan and the ROK could serve as the major channel in developing an East Asia economic community.