Asean integration an opportunity

CEBU, Philippines - Potential losses from the forthcoming Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015 must not be exaggerated particularly in the agricultural sector.

This is according to Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) senior researcher Roehlano Briones who said that the upcoming integration should not be perceived as a threat to be managed but an opportunity to be seized.

“We actually have little to fear,” he said.

He added that AEC should be viewed instead as an impetus for market reforms.

He pointed out that the ASEAN market accounts a significant share of agricultural imports but serves as a minor export destination.

He said that the potential impact may vary in accordance to the initial and future import and export shares of the country.

Briones cited that the integration shall enhance the intra and extra ASEAN trade among economies and boost the long-term competitiveness of the commodities of the food, agriculture and forestry industries.

For instance, he said that AEC shall harmonize safety and quality standards for horticultural produce and agri products and develop a regional reference network on phased-approach to forest certification by 2015.

It will also promote cooperation, joint approaches and technology transfer among ASEAN member countries, international, regional organizations and private sector.

It will further uphold ASEAN agricultural cooperatives as a means to empower and enhance market access of agricultural products.

Meanwhile, Briones identified the widest gaps in AEC blueprint implementation to be in cooperation areas related to private sector linkages, agricultural cooperatives, research and development, and technology transfer.

He also raised concern on the implementation of the HACCP certification for small enterprises as another major gap.

“The costs for small enterprises are simply too high, and few are expected to export; hence there is no reason for small enterprises to invest in certification,” he explained.

Other important components of the single market also include food, agriculture and forestry, and priority integration sectors apart from the free flow of goods, services, investment, skilled labor and capital.

Briones particularly said that the free flow of goods would require both zero tariffs and the removal of  non-tariff barriers.

Based on the ASEAN Investment Area, all industries under the agriculture, fishery, and forestry sectors “shall be open and national treatment granted to investors both at the pre-establishment and the post-establishment stages, with some exceptions as listed in member countries’ Temporary Exclusion Lists (TEL) and Sensitive Lists (SL).”

The culture, production, milling, processing, and trading except retailing of rice and corn and the by-products and operation of deep-sea commercial fishing vessels are the industries open with restrictions to foreign investors as listed to SL for the opening up of industries for services incidental to agriculture, fisheries, and forestry.

The industry closed to foreign investors, on the other hand, is the utilization of  marine resources.

While those included in the SL for the granting of national treatment for services incidental include lease of agricultural and foreshore lands and land ownership. /JOB (FREEMAN)