DTI shows ‘guarded optimism’ on ASEAN single market goals

Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo on Wednesday expressed “guarded optimism" towards the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) target to establish a single market by 2015. Domingo said there is “a lot of work to do" to meet the goals as he spoke to the media in a Makati City roundtable forum. “It’s an ambitious target and Asean is trying hard to meet the target by 2015. But I must say there is still a lot of work to be done to meet our target," Domingo said. ASEAN should proceed with economic integration despite the current Eurozone crisis in which individual European Union members like Italy and Greece are facing financial turmoil, Domingo said. Although ASEAN’s economic integration was inspired by the EU, Domingo said the deviation from the European single-market example will continue to allow independent ASEAN members to run as independent economies. “The EU has a different [integration model] that uses a single currency. There was a collapse because some member-countries did not follow those rules," he said. ASEAN is now implementing the trade in goods and trade in services programs – important components in implementing the single market goal by 2015, according to Domingo. The Philippines will definitely benefit from the ASEAN’s economic integration due free trade access, Domingo said. The Philippines, however, at the same time needs to address a number of issues in its own backyard by “improving competitiveness." The Philippines is the worst place for doing business in Asia, cable tv business news channel, CNBC recently reported. — ELR, GMA News