ASEAN leaders to ratify mutual agreement on nursing services

As they gather this weekend, the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are set to affirm the Mutual Recognition Agreement on Nursing Services that was signed by the economic ministers on December 9, 2006, a day after the postponement of the summit's original schedule was announced.

Once affirmed, the MRA would pave the way for new and greater opportunities for Filipino nurses to work within the ASEAN-member countries and would enable them wider access to nursing employment within ASEAN.

ASEAN is composed of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The collaboration of these countries has fasttracked efforts to open their economies to free trade in services and goods.

The MRA covers only registered and/or licensed nurses who may be allowed to practice their profession after applying for registration or license in a host country within ASEAN. Applicants are also required to have a minimum of at least three consecutive years of practice in their home countries before applying for employment in another country.

The MRA also provides for the establishment of the ASEAN joint coordinating committee on nursing services that would facilitate greater understanding of existing policies, procedures and practices and develop and promote strategies to manage the implementation of the MRA.

And because the Philippines is currently the biggest importer of registered nurses, Ramon Kabigting, director of the Bureau of International Trade Regulation of the Department of Trade and Industry, said that the Philippines would be the biggest beneficiary of the MRA.

DFA assistant Secretary Luis Cruz, director-general for ASEAN Affairs, had said that the ASEAN member-countries are also pursuing negotiations for similar agreements in the architectural, accountancy, surveying, medical, tourism, and information technology professions.

The Preamble of the draft MRA stipulates that the ASEAN countries recognize the objectives of the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services, which are to enhance cooperation in services among its member-countries in order to improve the efficiency and competitiveness, diversify production capacity and supply and distribution of services of their services suppliers within and outside ASEAN, to eliminate substantially the restrictions to trade in services among ASEAN member-countries; and to liberalize trade in services by expanding the depth and scope of liberalization beyond those undertaken by ASEAN member-countries under the General Agreement on Trade in Services.

The MRA is also in accordance with the efforts of the ASEAN member-countries in recognizing the ASEAN Vision 2020 on Partnership in Dynamic Development geared towards the creation of a stable, prosperous and highly competitive ASEAN Economic Region. - Joeberth M. Ocao