KUALA LUMPUR, June 4 (NNN-Bernama) — A lack of commitment or inability to deliver on the promises enshrined in both the 2015 and 2025 ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint are among the factors that hamper progress on economic integration of the 10-nation bloc.
Citing its annual policy paper on trade facilitation in ASEAN published today, the EU-ASEAN Business Council (EU-ABC) said other factors included targets set by ASEAN were regularly missed, in particular commitments to tackle non-tariff barriers to trade that were hampered by ineffective processes and tools.
“Existing trade facilitative agreements, such as the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA), remain to be fully implemented or adhered to.
“And the region is adding new ideas and programmes, such as in digital transformation, but continues to fail to deliver on existing ones,” it said in a statement Friday.
Chairman Donald Kanak said ASEAN has a huge opportunity in the next few years to become an even more significant participant in and contributor to the global economy, if it can make tangible progress on its economic integration agenda.
“That requires a reset in how the region deals with non-tariff barriers to trade. That reset is key to easing the flow of goods, improving ASEAN’s competitiveness and creating a better investment environment,” he said.
Kanak believes that by working more cohesively together and delivering on the promises made in the AEC Blueprint, the region would recover quicker from the pandemic and the recovery will be durable.
Meanwhile, EU-ABC executive director Chris Humphrey said the council is seeing clear signs that businesses are losing patience with the ASEAN economic integration project.
“Progress has been disappointingly slow, and non-tariff barriers to trade remain a major obstacle to sustainable development in the region, despite the various statements from the ASEAN leaders and ministers that they need to be eliminated,” he said.
He said quantity and price controls in particular remain in place, diminishing competition and innovation in the region to the detriment of local businesses and the wider populations.
While agreeing that the pandemic offers ASEAN a challenge and an opportunity for a “reset” in its approach to economic integration, Humphrey said more urgency, more commitment, more resources are needed to deliver the AEC Blueprint and realise the region’s huge potential.
“Business also needs to play its part by identifying barriers and then executing with more jobs, more trade and more investment whenever barriers are eliminated,” he said.
— NNN-BERNAMA