DTI seeks removal of Asean trade barriers
Credit to Author: TYRONE JASPER C. PIAD| Date: Thu, 25 Apr 2019 16:19:47 +0000
THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is pushing for the study and removal of “unnecessary” nontariff barriers imposed by some members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to ease market access for exports in the region.
During this week’s Asean Economic Ministers meeting in Thailand, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said such barriers under the Asean Trade in Goods Agreement (Atiga) made trading “more difficult and costly.”
Signed in 2009, Atiga aims to boost trade and economic activities in Southeast Asia by opening the market to the free flow of goods, services and investments, among others.
In a statement on Thursday, Lopez said these barriers adversely affected both agricultural and industrial products.
“Some of these Philippine products have [difficulty] entering some markets because of high tariffs and [the] strict import requirements imposed,” he explained.
These include horticultural products, bananas, tobacco, fishery products, meat, young coconut, seeds, poultry, swine feeds, electronics, pharmaceutical products, cosmetics, apparel and footwear.
Southeast Asian economic ministers pointed out the urgency to finish negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade agreement this year. They noted that all pending issues should be resolved by June to meet the November deadline.
RCEP covers all 10 Asean members — Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam — and their free trade area partners Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.
Last year, the ministers introduced an RCEP Work Plan that would guide negotiators in concluding partnership agreements.
“We encouraged the trade negotiating parties to exercise utmost flexibility in the forthcoming sessions, taking into account constitutional and legal limitations,” the Trade chief said.
“Just the same, the agreement should be balanced and mutually beneficial and balanced trade agreement to establish free and fair trade in the region,” he added.
The meeting also served as a platform to talk about “economic significance, degree of convergence on new free trade agreements and resource requirement, among others,” Lopez said.
During the meeting, the importance of digital integration amid the fourth industrial revolution was also underscored, noting that it was one of the Asean’s top priorities.
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