“We are ready for the ASEAN Economic Community. We are very competitive,” declared Trade and Industry Secretary Gregory L. Domingo as the ASEAN economic integration moves closer to reality a few days from now.
Outside Singapore, Domingo said, the Philippines is the most competitive.
“We are ready because we were the first to liberalize in the region and so we already know how to compete. Trade liberalization is good for us,” he added noting that other ASEAN countries have more restrictions than us.
Naturally, investments would flow into a country where there are lesser business restrictions.
Domingo even stressed that the country’s liberalized economy has prepared businesses to compete in the global arena long before the AEC comes into force.
But business leader Alfredo M. Yao has cautioned that while Filipino businesses can easily look for foreign partners because doing business in the country has become very cheap, non-tariff barriers (NTBs) have also become more prevalent, not just in ASEAN but non-ASEAN countries, as well.
“It is very cheap to do business here so we can look for partners, but we are talking here of zero tariff, which means we have to look at the non-tariff side,” Yao pointed out.
He cited the case of the banking sector, which has been fully liberalized, but which the other ASEAN countries still heavily protect.
“We should look at non-tariff barriers,” stressed Yao.
While it is the private sector’s lookout, Yao has urged government to ensure that domestic industries are not being disadvantaged by the NTBs being implemented by other ASEAN countries.
“The government should assign one czar/trade attaché per country to just monitor the NTBs of other trading parties,” he said.
source: Manila Bulletin
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