ASEAN to deliver growth benefits to 650M people

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is working vigorously toward integrating the region's economies in order to bring the benefits of growth to the 650 million people in this 10-nation bloc, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said.

Dominguez said implementing the goal of a single market and production base under the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) may be a “compelling one,” but the organization is “confident that all the work we’ve put in to support the realization of the vision will reap significant benefits for our people.”

“We are working very hard together so that in the whole ASEAN community, 650 million people are going to be more integrated with each other economically and financially. That's really what we are working towards,” said Dominguez in an interview after the end of the series of meetings among ASEAN finance ministers and central bank governors at the Shangri-La Mactan Resort in Lapu-Lapu City last week.

The Philippines’ total external trade in goods with ASEAN memberstates amounted to US.26 billion in 2016, or 21.7 percent of the country’s entire trade, according to data from the Philippine Statistic Authority.

“So, we are building [the ASEAN market] because there’s strength in unity, it’s a market with a 650-million population, and that’s a huge market, bigger than the US market. The income of the US is very high, but here, we are growing very fast,” Dominguez added.

Finance ministers and central bank governors of the ASEAN memberstates of the Philippines, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam had met separately and jointly in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu on April 6 and 7 for a series of meetings to find ways of fast-tracking initiatives on financial integration and inclusion within this regional bloc.

The Philippines is this year’s chair and host of the ASEAN, which is celebrating its 50th founding anniversary with the theme “Partnering for Change, Engaging the World.”

Dominguez and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr., cochaired the 3rd ASEAN Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting (AFMGM) in Lapu-Lapu City.