(Fifth in a five-part series)
AS we come to the final installment of this five-part series on the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), it may be useful to recall the ultimate goal of pursuing freer flows of goods, services, capital, and labor. At the end of the day, the vision is to establish a competitive, sustainable, and inclusive region that is integrated into the global economy.
(Second in a five-part series) ANY SAVVY executive knows that a deal isn’t done until the money is in the bank. The same may be said for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA), where negotiated tariff cuts are only meaningful when traders are able to use them.
AS THE day of reckoning for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Community (AEC) draws closer, our clients have been asking how further integration will impact doing business and operating in a regional environment given the diversity of culture, political platform, scale of market and geography.
MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is set to intensify its education campaign for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Community (AEC) next year as part of preparations for the upcoming regional economic integration. “We are intensifying our education campaign on the AEC through larger fora four times every month starting in the first quarter of 2014,” DTI assistant secretary Ceferino S. Rodolfo said on the sidelines of a conference on the AEC. He said the plan is to conduct the fora by region, by sectors, and by issues. “Alongside these fora, the DTI will continue organizing the Doing Business in Free Trade Areas (DBFTA) sessions,” he said. The DBFTA is a series of business information sessions that provide entrepreneurs with knowledge on how to navigate and profit from the country’s free trade agreements (FTAs). Currently, the Philippines has signed seven free trade agreements, namely, the ASEAN FTA, ASEAN-China FTA, ASEAN-Korea FTA, ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand FTA, ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, Philippines-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement and ASEAN-India FTA. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Since January of this year, more than 100 DBFTA sessions have been conducted nationwide, with many focused on the AEC. The AEC, which will be in place by 2015, will transform the ASEAN into a region with free movement of goods, services, investment, skilled labor as well as flow of capital. Large market opportunities are seen to be opened by the AEC’s market of 600 million people for Read More …
MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will try to position the Philippines as a hub for design and craftsmanship in preparation for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (ASEAN) Economic Community (AEC) in 2015 as it launched DeXign Global, a business platform to introduce trends and innovations for home and fashion yesterday. DTI’s Bureau of Export Trade Promotion director Senen Perlada told reporters at the opening of DeXign Global at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City, the event is being held to prepare the Philippines and position the country as a design hub in the region given the upcoming AEC. “We are bringing them (designers from overseas) here to see what we have. This (design) is where we really have our edge,” he said. Rosario Virginia Gaetos, executive director of the DTI’s export marketing arm Center for International Trade and Expositions and Mission (CITEM) told reporters that as the AEC would be established in two years time, the government recognizes that the local design community has to prepare and look at how it can promote its products to the 600 million potential customers in the region. The AEC is expected to lead to free movement of goods, services, investment, skilled labor as well as flow of capital in the region. Gaetos said that for the country to be able to promote its strength in design, it is important for local designers to be updated with trends and innovations in home and fashion products overseas. Business Read More …
YANGON, Myanmar – Businessmen in this Southeast Asian country are counting on the entry of Philippine investments here to help move their economy forward. Dr. Maung Maung Lay Lay, vice-president of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce & Industry (UMFCCI), which groups 26,000 members and 69 affiliate organizations, said this would be a “win-win situation” for both Myanmar and the Philippines. Reeling from a half century of military rule, Myanmar has dramatically fallen behind its peers in the region. Its economy grew by an average of five percent in the last five years, picking up only last year with a 6.3 percent clip. Lay said Myanmar needs foreign investors, including Philippine companies to move the economy forward and help prepare it for the Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015. Lay noted for instance that the Philippines has one of the cheapest mobile phone systems in the region and welcomed potential investments in the telecommunications sector. In mining, Lay said their country also needs investments. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 “They are our partners. But we also have to make sure they don’t just extract our resources and leave it at that,” he said. The Philippines, which posted the highest first quarter economic growth in the region at 7.8 percent, has been dubbed by Standard & Poor’s, a credit rating agency, as the new leader in Asean. In June, President Aquino said after the World Economic Forum for East Asia held here that three Read More …
MANILA, Philippines – The benefits of regional integration are numerous not just for the different economies but for the private sector as well as it would encourage companies to further improve their services and products, the Philippine chief of a multinational oil firm said. In a paper on regional integration, Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. country manager Edgar Chua said these initiatives could provide an opportunity for companies like Shell to further improve themselves and compete more “through operational excellence.” “Hence, we benchmark our product and services against the best of the best in the world. Benchmarking is our way of knowing where we are vis-à-vis our peers and competitors,” said Chua in an article posted on the company’s website. In Asia, negotiations for various regional integration initiatives have taken off. One such initiative is the negotiations for the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). The proposed RCEP, which includes all the 10 ASEAN economies plus their six free trading agreement partners namely, Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, and New Zealand, would create the world’s largest free trade bloc with huge impact to the world economy, according to the Asian Development Bank in its ADB Outlook 2013. The RCEP economies have a combined total population of 3.5 billion, a gross domestic product of $21.4 trillion and trade receipts of $12 trillion, according to the ADB. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Chua said besides the RCEP, the so-called ASEAN economic community (AEC) has also emerged. With a target Read More …
MANILA, Philippines – The Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) has formed a committee that will help the government and the business community prepare for the opportunities and risks of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) economic integration. The MAP has created the ASEAN Integration Committee (AIC) to raise the awareness of the business community sector on the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) as well as country branding efforts. The AIC headed by Junie del Mundo has a two-fold mandate: to conduct an information drive and consultations with businesses and to push country branding initiatives. The AIC will likewise implement activities under the MAP-ASEAN Business Advisory Council Agreement from this year onwards. The AIC is part of MAP’s Economic Development Cluster, a grouping of other committees on trade and development, working on ways to create an environment conducive to promoting rapid, inclusive, and sustained economic growth. “AIC captures MAP’s commitment to operationalize our thrust to help build the foundation for economic growth through relevant, timely and private sector-focused offerings,” MAP president Melito Salazar, Jr. said. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Among the activities planned to help the government and the businesses sector prepare for the ASEAN’s unified market is to conduct a series of fora on the AEC and its impact on the country. The MAP is set to hold its first AEC forum next month. Earlier, Salazar said the group intends to come up with a master plan that would contain strategies on how businesses Read More …