DTI steps up preparations for Asean integration

The Department of Trade and Industry stressed the need to define the Philippines’ trade and economic interests in Southeast Asia and in the larger Asia Pacific region, as it prepares the country for the upcoming establishment of the Asean Economic Community next year.

Trade Undersecretary Adrian S. Cristobal Jr. noted the need for “sustained and constructive engagements with the private sector that will help us in identifying areas of concern in the Asean and Apec (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) economies.”

“Both are our markets for exports, raw materials, and intermediate goods as well as a source and destination of investments,” Cristobal said in a recent forum.

Cristobal said that, concerning the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), the focus now is to tackle nontariff barriers that impede inter-Asean trade. Over the past two decades, tariffs across Asean have been gradually decreasing and since January 2010, most of the import duties in Asean have already been reduced to 0 percent.

Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand have eliminated import duties on 99.65 percent of trade tariff lines, while the four other member states of the Asean—Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Viet Nam—have 98.86 percent of their traded tariff lines reduced to 0-5 percent.

On the Apec front, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Laura del Rosario presented priority themes for as well as the timetable their implementation. Suggested themes are regional economic integration, mainstreaming small and medium enterprises (SMEs), food security and inclusive growth, among others.

In response to the government’s pronouncements, the business community reportedly agreed to continue the dialogue among members of the public and private sectors through more frequent and focused discussions in areas such as energy, services, SMEs, emergency preparedness, food security, and connectivity and logistics.