Asian
governments should undertake regional actions to reap the benefits of
integration initiatives such as the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and
be in a strong position to meet the overall national economic volatility
and, according to the Asian Development Bank.
"Strengthening
regional integration will help Asian developing countries to be more
productive and efficient at a time when the global economy is in flux,"
Iwan Azis, Head, Office of Regional Economic Integration, ADB said
yesterday.
"To
do that, and to avoid falling prey to domestic protectionist pressures,
governments must act now to ratify, implement and enforce regional
agreements."
The
"Asian Economic Integration Monitor", a semiannual report of the Asian
Development Bank, said that Asia has been mixed progress in regional
cooperation and integration recently in the context of a changing
economic and financial environment. Trade
and capital flows have declined slightly border despite improvements in
cross-border foreign direct investment, the purchase of bonds, bank
loans and tourist flows.
Progress towards the AEC has been steady but slow. The
region has to work harder to address barriers to trade in economically
sensitive sectors such as agriculture, steel and motor vehicles, as well
as the reduction of non-tariff barriers are increasingly replacing the tariffs as barriers to international trade, the bank said.
The
liberalization of trade in services and the adoption of policies and
the protection of intellectual property rights competition - all the
difficult areas of reform - national require instead of regional. Therefore, 2015 will be a milestone rather than an end point to fully achieve the objectives set by the AEC Asean.
Work
should continue beyond 2015, particularly to increase the mobility of
workers to unskilled and skilled workers can move across borders more
easily.
Increased labor mobility will allow the region to reap the benefits of all other reforms.
There is a need to tackle other trade barriers, including excessive fees in customs procedures and trade finance. Addressing these issues is where the main benefits are trade, according to the Asian Development Bank. Each 1 percent savings in transaction costs related to trade is estimated to produce an overall benefit U.S. $ 43 billion (Bt1.3 trillion).
National
actions combined with a multilateral agreement on trade facilitation -
is expected to be signed at the Ministerial Conference of the ninth
World Trade Organization in Indonesia from December 3 to 6 - are key to
these achievements.
Regional
cooperation may face economic uncertainty and other cross-border
challenges such as climate change, health issues and territorial
disputes.
This
can be achieved through an increased political dialogue, stronger
regional institutions, better transport links, the capital markets and
deeper regional financial safety nets.
