One ASEAN moving forward
OPINION
Since 2007, the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX) has been publishing a monthly newsletter called the FINEX Focus. Released during the general membership meetings of the country’s premier finance organization, its predecessor was the FINEX Digest, which still comes out occasionally as a special magazine for milestone events.
As co-chairmen of the FINEX Media Affairs Committee, Manny Guillermo and I write a column titled “Key Points” in every issue of FINEX Focus. This month’s edition focuses on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), coinciding with our country’s hosting of the 30th ASEAN Summit reeling off today at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.
Of particular interest to most FINEX members would be the topic of financial integration, which may be brought up during the summit’s sessions involving the 10 heads of state under the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).
In fact, at the pre-summit meeting of the region’s finance ministers and central bank governors last Apr. 7 in Cebu, their joint statement emphasized the importance of strengthening ASEAN financial cooperation and economic integration for the effective implementation of the “AEC Blueprint 2025.”
Integrating the culturally and politically diverse countries of Southeast Asia is crucial to the continued existence of the regional organization that celebrates its golden anniversary this year. Here are our key points on the ASEAN’s economic future:
In the near term, the eyes of the world would be focused on the European Union (EU), largely due to the infamous “Brexit” process that started recently.
For some reason, the ASEAN has not merited the same global attention as the EU. But that’s probably because none of the 10 ASEAN memberstates has made a threat to pull out from the regional bloc. Or is it too early in the region’s life to even be mulling such a contingency?
Now on its 50th year, the ASEAN has long aspired to emulate the EU’s level of integration that is key to being an effective and respected economic unit.
The good news is that our region is in the throes of making things work toward integration, having recognized the necessity and urgency to be regarded as one economic force vis-à-vis giant Asian markets such as China, India, and Japan.
After all, an integrated ASEAN could boast of a market with more than 600 million people, largely composed of a young population with rising disposable incomes and whose economies are among the fastest growing globally. Consider, too, the region’s combined labor force of about 300 million, conceivably the world’s largest.
What’s amazing about economic integration is its success in ignoring the sharp cultural differences between the constituent countries. That happens when the primary consideration is taken from a strategic perspective as well as when faced with major external threats from nations far bigger than one’s own.
Yes, integration is good, the sooner the better. Never mind that among ourselves in the ASEAN, we actually compete for our share of foreign direct investments — arguably a vital component of resource flows that feed each country’s growth.
Anything that compels us to improve our infrastructure, train our labor force, prioritize our children’s education, minimize corruption, or scale down the bureaucracy so as to attract more foreign direct investments (FDI) can only be good for the Philippines.
Yet in spite of leading the ASEAN pack with our gross domestic product growing by 6.8% in 2016 (next only to Myanmar’s 8.6% gross domestic product growth), our country still pales in comparison with Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia in FDIs.
We are underachieving, obviously, and it’s good to feel envious of our neighbors in this respect.
The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of FINEX.