Asean leaders work to accelerate establishment of free trade area

ASEAN members are supportive of the goal of accelerating the establishment of a free trade area (FTA) in the regionfrom 2020 to 2015, an official of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said yesterday.

DTI-International Trade Relations director Ramon Vicente Kabigting said during the ASEAN Media Forum that the FTA acceleration is a done deal .

"The goal of acceleration is something shared by the leaders and ministers. Acceleration won’t be as painful as what people think. It’ll accelerate the achievements of economic community and we’re realistic about safety nets for merchandise," Kabigting said.

He said an ASEAN FTA is a "stimulus" for economic growth and development of all members, including the Philippines and provides the members with a very sound approach to globalization.

Kabigting said the ministers will recommend to bring the timeline of accelerating the FTA to 2015.

"What we’ll accelerate is non-tariff measure tantamount to trade facilitation. The businessmen have been clamoring for this. The FTA is one such mechanism to help us in navigating through globalization and push economic development and growth," he added.

According to Kabigting, the business sector is concerned about the acceleration of services and investments which are not easy because of Constitutional provisions and regulations.

But he said the Constitutional provisions and regulations are the challenge for ASEAN members pushing the FTA acceleration.

Former Trade Secretary and representative of the Philippines to the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ABAC) Jose Concepcion Jr. said the regional grouping should accelerate the FTA to 2015.

"When it comes to free trade there’s no doubt we’ve to address it. The Asian private sector is really accelerating it to 2015. Let’s set that as a target," Concepcion said.

The ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) was launched in 1992 with the signing of a framework agreement on enhancing economic Cooperation. The strategic objective of the FTA is to increase the competitive advantage of ASEAN as a production base geared for the world market.

The ASEAN region is a market of over 500 million people stretching over 4.5 million square kilometers with a combined gross domestic product of $735 billion and total trade amounting to $720 billion.