TRADE Secretary Gregory Domingo expressed “guarded optimism” in meeting the target of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) of establishing a single market by 2015, saying there was still “a lot of work to do” to meet the goals.
He said the economic integration for the 10 members of Asean will push economies, including the Philippines, to improve their competitiveness to benefit from the free-trade access of the economic integration.
“It’s an ambitious target and Asean is trying hard to meet the target by 2015. But I must say there is still a lot of work to be done to meet our target,” said Domingo on Wednesday at the roundtable forum held by the BusinessMirror, Philippines Graphic and dwIZ in at the BM editorial offices in Makati City.
Pressed on whether he is hopeful that the regional bloc would meet its single-market ambition in time, the trade chief said: “I must say, guarded optimism.”
Domingo said Asean should push through with the economic integration even amid the current crisis in the euro zone where members of the European Union, such as Italy and Greece, face financial turmoil.
Asean’s economic integration was inspired by the European Union (EU) but Domingo said the single-market goal will still allow independent Asean members to operate as independent economies.
“The EU has a different [integration model] that uses a single currency. There was a collapse because some member-countries did not follow those rules,” said Domingo.
He said Asean is now at the stage of implementing the trade-in-goods and trade-in-services programs that are important components in implementing the single-market goal by 2015.
Domingo said the Philippines will surely benefit from the Asean economic integration due to the free-trade access. At the same time, however, it needs to address some issues in its own backyard by “improving competitiveness,” he said.
“We cannot allow open-market access [for the Philippines] without improving our competitiveness,” Domingo said.
Asean groups the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Brunei, Burma/Myanmar and Singapore.
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By: Estrella Torres
Source: Business Mirror, Nov. 9, 2011
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