The Philippines needs to achieve more reforms in trade to better participate in the upcoming ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), Asian Development Bank (ADB) representatives said in a live chat event on Thursday.
The AEC is the economic integration of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations economies into a single market in 2015.
“The AEC aims to present ASEAN to the outside world as one market in which cross-border movements will be seamless. This will positively affect supply chain investment to ASEAN. However, behind-the-border reforms that address trade costs should complement the process, and this is where the targets in dismantling non-tariff barriers within AEC are critical,” said ADB Office of Regional Economic Integration lead economist Jayant Menon.
Menon said that “a lot” can still be achieved through domestic reforms in the Philippines to “ramp up trade.”
“A lot of behind-the-border issues still impact on trade costs significantly, and require customs reform and reducing red tape, and associated rent-seeking behavior. Improving infrastructure is badly needed in the Philippines, as in many other countries, and this can play a big part in ramping up trade through reducing transport costs,” he said.
The Philippines should also reconsider constitutionally enforced limits on foreign ownership if it wants to join multilateral trade agreements like the free-trade Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), he added.
Office of Regional Economic Integration senior director Ramesh Subramaniam said that the AEC is “more comprehensive than just trade, and when fully operational could have considerable benefits as risks of contagion from integrated markets are managed.” — BM, GMA News
July 2025
Nutrition Month
“Give us much more than P50 increase
for proper nutrition!”
Invoke Article 33 of the ILO Constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations
against serious violations of
Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.
Accept National Unity Government (NUG)
of Myanmar. Reject Military!
#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideosturesVideos
July
3 July – International Day of Cooperatives
3 July – International Plastic Bag Free Day
5 July – World Youth Skills Day
7 July – Global Forgiveness Day
11 July – World Population Day
17 July – World Day for International Justice
28 July – World Nature Conservation Day
30 July – World Day against Trafficking in Persons
Monthly Observances:
Schools Safety Month
Nutrition Month
National Disaster Consciousness Month
Weekly Observances:
Week 2: Cultural Communities Week
Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise
Development Week
Week 3: National Science and
Technology Week
National Disability Prevention and
Rehabilitation Week
July 1-7:
National Culture Consciousness Week
July 13-19:
Philippines Business Week
Week ending last Saturday of July:
Arbor Week
Daily Observances:
First Saturday of July:
International Cooperative Day
in the Philippines
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.
