Japanese businessmen goad ASEAN toward single market economy

The success of the ASEAN single market by 2015, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) need to focus on developing infrastructure and eliminating non-tariff barriers while managing the environment. This was the message of Japanese businessmen to the ASEAN trade ministers during a two-day meet in Kuala Lumpur on July 8 in conjunction with the two-day annual dialog of the Federation of Japanese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FJCCIA) in ASEAN. ASEAN Secretary General Dr. Surin Pitsuwan said the encounter served as a “reality check" on the implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint. It was important and practical for the ASEAN governments to get the feedback and the issues business people are concern with, Pitsuan said, Mari Elka Pangestu, chair of the Asean Economic Ministers led the meeting with the leaders of the federation as well as the Japanese Business Federation (Keidanren) and the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) in Kuala Lumpur to thresh out the concerns with the ambitious ASEAN single market. “This year reached a four-year cycle that the Japanese business community came up with issues which received very positive notes by ministers in the two way, future strategic view," said Surin. Three critical issues were raised by FJCCIA chairman Takashi Hibi for the ASEAN economic leaders to consider. Hibi emphasized the importance of infrastructure development — the soft infrastructure encompassing intellectual property rights protect and human resources development, and the hard version that includes railway, maritime and air transportation. The Japanese also raised the need to further reduce import duties, remove non-tariff barriers, and simplify Customs clearance and procedures. Stronger SMEs Japan is one of ASEAN’s top trading partners with the two-way trade last year reaching $214.8 billion. Japan is also an important source of foreign direct investments for the region, and is responsible for 7.4 percent of total investments in ASEAN member states in 2010. ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. In 2008, the member states adopted their charter as a regional bloc and transformed ASEAN into a binding and rules-based group. The single market economy was envisioned to facilitate trade and investments within the regional bloc by harmonizing trade and economic policies of the member states. The Japanese investors also focused on the need for stronger small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the economic integration by paving the way to areas of cooperation and opportunities. “We need to look into a strategic view ahead in the next 10 years, to ensure that ASEAN and Japan 'cooperate and collaborate' to develop further, as Japan grows outside particularly in the areas of infrastructure development, connectivity, human resources development, and technical transfer," said Pangestu. The ASEAN economic ministers agreed to hold a road show in Japan, possibly April or May next year, highlighting where the economic ministers may link business and knowledge exchange between ASEAN and Japanese SMEs. Both the economic ministers and the Japanese businessmen endorsed the crafting and development of a 10-year strategic vision for ASEAN and Japan. FJCCIA consists of 4,444 Japanese companies operating in the 10 ASEAN member states. — VS, GMA News