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THE
final draft of the blueprint setting the schedules and
modalities of the integration into a seamless economic
bloc by 2010 will be scrutinized for the last time by
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean)
economic ministers when they meet in
Manila this week.
Ramon
Kabigting, director of the Bureau of International Trade
Relations, told reporters that the final debate and
endorsement of the economic integration blueprint to the
Asean heads of state will be the highlight of the 39th
Meeting of the Asean Economic Ministers (AEM) and
Related Meetings at the Shangri-La Hotel in Makati.
“They
[ministers] will take a final look at the document and
say ‘this is the declaration.’ So in November [at the
13th Asean Summit in Singapore], the leaders will adopt
it,” Kabigting said.
It was
in the Kuala Lumpur meeting last year when the region’s ministers decided to come up with
the blueprint for Asean economic integration, which was
originally targeted for 2020 but later advanced to 2015.
The
leaders gave their go-ahead to it and mandated the
economic ministers to proceed with its drafting.
Kabigting said the final draft and its accompanying
documents setting the measures, modalities, strategies
and schedules have been finalized and submitted for
final look at the Manila AEM.
After
the leaders agree to adopt the blueprint in November,
Kabigting said they will instruct the Asean economic
ministers to implement it according to schedule.
Kabigting said this means that Trade Secretary Peter B.
Favila, who will be chairing the AEM up to next year,
will be shepherding the first year of implementation of
the blueprint that will guide the region’s economic
integration.
The
economic blueprint, if implemented accordingly, will
convert the Asean into a “zone of free market” where
goods, services and investments move freely across the
members’ borders.
It will
also make the region a “zone of competitiveness” able to
hold its own globally, and a zone of equitable
development. It will also make Asean a zone that is
wired to mainstream global economies by way of
free-trade agreements (FTAs).
The
region has committed to conclude within the year its FTA
negotiations with dialogue partners
Korea,
China, Japan, New Zealand and Australia.
As part
of the vision for the single Asean Economic Community,
Kabigting said the goal is to tear down the tariff and
nontariff barriers for the trade in goods.
This
includes the harmonization of Customs procedures of the
region through the implementation of the Asean single
window. There will also be frameworks that will guide
the trade in services and investments.
The
other highlight for the Manila AEM is the signing of the
protocol that will make logistics services the 12th
sector in the Asean framework for Priority Integration.
These 12
sectors that include electronics, automotive and
garments will go ahead of the other industries as they
will be fully integrated by 2010.
The
economic ministers will also review if the
member-countries are on schedule in delivering their
commitments like the tariff elimination schedule under
the Asean Free Trade Agreement-Common Effective
Preferential Tariff (CEPT) scheme.
There
will also be an opportunity for the region’s businessmen
to meet in business matching sessions to look for
possible ventures that they can do together. |
