PH wants Apec to boost competitiveness of small enterprises

CEBU CITY, Philippines—A Philippine trade official has appealed before member economies of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) to focus on initiatives that will make it easier for small enterprises to set up shop and operate in the different markets across the region.

Trade Assistant Secretary Ceferino S. Rodolfo sought to have a simplified set of rules implemented among Apec members, particularly those that pertain to the rules of origin (ROO). The ROO determines the country of origin for goods being traded in the international arena.

“One area of work we can continue to focus on, building on Apec’s advances on trade facilitation and transparency, is to deal with the spaghetti bowl, or the noodle bowl of rules of origin. By harmonizing and simplifying the ROO, and making its application simple and non-restrictive across different regional trade agreements, it will help simplify trading conditions and contribute greatly to Apec and the World Trade Organization’s work on transparency,” Rodolfo said during the Senior Officials’ Meeting on Free Trade Agreements held here yesterday.

“By simplifying and streamlining ROOs, we can facilitate the access of the micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises or MSMEs to preferential markets, as highlighted by the Boracay Action Agenda to Globalize MSMEs,” he added.

Simplifying rules and regulations across the region will complement the objectives of the Boracay Agenda, which was adopted by Apec trade ministers last May. This action-oriented initiative was meant to address the barriers faced by MSMEs in international trade. The priority areas for cooperation were identified as trade facilitation, e-commerce, financing and institutional support.

The Boracay Agenda, which sought to put MSMEs at the front and center of the region’s trade cooperation work, was deemed crucial considering that more than 90 percent of the establishments in Apec economies are MSMEs.

Rodolfo also stressed the importance of free trade agreements (FTAs) and the so-called mega regional trade agreements (RTAs), which were deemed as “potential new [pillars] of trade governance complementary to the multilateral trade system.”  Such agreements are expected to serve as avenues through which MSMEs are able to expand their operations and access preferential markets.

“High quality RTAs and FTAs can be important avenues to achieve free and open trade and investment, but we need to work to ensure the high quality, transparency and broad consistency of the RTAs and FTAs in our region,” Rodolfo said.

Apec members have reportedly enforced 144 FTAs. The renewed interest on RTAs and FTAs reportedly formed part of the implementation of the Beijing roadmap for Apec’s contribution to the realization of the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP).

The FTAAP, led by China and the US, is a bigger trade agreement that is expected to build on the liberalization gains in the region, possibly on the ongoing negotiations for the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).