ASEAN integration is not a threat to MSMEs

An integrated Association of Southeast Asian Nations is an opportunity for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to access a larger market, the ASEAN Business Advisory Council said on Friday.

"It is not a threat. ASEAN is basically putting a larger economy of 10 countries together," ASEAN BAC chairman Joey Concepcion said during a press conference on Friday for the upcoming ASEAN Business and Investment Summit.

Concepcion noted the ASEAN Mentorship for Entrepreneurs Network (AMEN), to be launched during ASEAN Business and Investment Summit on November 12 to 14, is part of the efforts by the ASEAN BAC to prepare MSMEs towards a more fully-integrated ASEAN Economic Community.

"It's a major move to try to make people understand the shift towards the ASEAN integration," he said.

The ASEAN Economic Community established in 2015 is a milestone in regional economic integration, offering business opportunities within a single market worth an estimated $2.6 trillion with over 622 million people, according to the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

ASEAN BAC executive director Gil Gonzales said MSMEs should not feel threatened by the ASEAN integration but treat it as an opportunity to form a larger network with the 10-member regional bloc.

"We are here to join forces and say, 'If you have the best technology, we have the manpower, we have the innovation. Can we be one?' So that we get big, and then there's a whole global market waiting for us," Gonzales said.

"What is the requirement? All business sectors should have access to that ASEAN community ... Each business sector should be tied to an ASEAN grouping. So there should be an exchange of notes," Gonzales added. — VDS, GMA News