ASEAN

Major step toward region’s integration MANILA, Philippines—The Association of Southeast Asian Nations will encourage its trading partners to use a harmonized tariff nomenclature that will better facilitate trade between the region and these countries.

THE European Union (EU) trade commissioner said the bloc would still seek a free-trade agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) if the political and economic issues are hurdled.

HANOI – Economic ties between the United States and Southeast Asia are “a high priority,” an embassy spokesman said Saturday despite the absence of US officials from a key regional trade meeting.

DA NANG, Vietnam—Economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) need to “take a risk” in investing among themselves, particularly in small and medium enterprises (SMEs), in order to build resilience and create a vibrant single-market economy by 2015, said Asean Secretary-General Dr. Surin Pitsuwan.

ASEAN members are prodding the Philippines to ease limits on foreign investments to take advantage of increased inflows into the region this year, a senior trade official said.

DANANG—Southeast Asian economies will grow along with China despite challenges faced by some countries in adjusting to a new ASEAN-China free trade deal, the head of the regional bloc said Wednesday.

DANANG, Vietnam — ASEAN leaders warned Wednesday of a widening gap between Southeast Asia’s richest and poorest nations that could threaten the region’s drive for a single market.

Conclusion IT IS LITTLE WONDER that with the country’s poor showing in trade and investment, Philippine firms’ use of ASEAN free trade agreements to facilitate export sales pales in comparison to its neighbors’.

“ARE YOU a domestic manufacturer hurt by the sudden surge of imports?,” asked an ad for a seminar held last month. “Do you want to take action on these matters? Then this seminar is for you,” it continued. Apparently effective, some 20 businessmen and lawyers subsequently attended a course on raising trade disputes against competing…

EARLY this month, the UN special envoy for Burma (also known as Myanmar), Tomas Ojea Quintana wrote a letter to the chairman, Do Ngoc Son, of the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) asking for a meeting to exchange views on their respective organisations and activities. The request was quickly turned down.

ECONOMIC leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) will assess the implementation of the free-trade agreements (FTAs) signed with dialogue partners like China, Japan, South Korea, India and Australia-New Zealand to align trade policies in preparation for the establishment of a single market economy by 2015.

MANILA, Philippines—With the world experiencing the ill effects of climate change, the Philippines urged its co-members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to “climate-proof” the region’s energy sector.

HANOI – Canada on Friday signed a friendship and non-aggression pact with Southeast Asia, saying the region has made progress on human rights.

22 July 2010 – The Philippines reiterated its commitment to strengthen mechanisms for the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms of all at the ongoing 43rd Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Ha Noi, Vietnam. One of the priorities of President Benigno S. Aquino III is providng greater…

The Philippines is a nation serious about its commitments and which harmonizes its national interests with its international responsibilities.

The Philippines will participate in the upcoming ministerial meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Vietnam where it will seek support from, and work together with ASEAN, in addressing national challenges under a new leadership.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Wednesday said that it will push four key areas in a ministerial meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) next week in Vietnam.

MANILA, July 15 —- The fledgling administration of President Benigno Aquino III has eyed the facilitation of the regional grouping of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in addressing at least four challenges it faces, among which, are disaster management and economic security, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said.

HANOI—The Association of Southeast Asian Nations will set up a financial surveillance office that will monitor countries within the region that are in danger of falling into recession.

MANILA, Philippines – New York-based Moody’s Investors Services said yesterday that the outlook for sovereigns and banks in Southeast Asian countries, including the Philippines remained mostly stable despite the full impact of the global financial crisis.

The collection of Southeast Asian countries known as ASEAN has, collectively, some of the most prolific child trafficking in the world. Why are Southeast Asian children so much more vulnerable to forced prostitution, slave labor, domestic servitude, and other forms of exploitation? Possibly, because ASEAN is failing to properly address the problem.

MANILA, Philippines – The United States is looking  at forging a trans-Pacific partnership with Asian countries including the Philippines after the proposed ASEAN-United States multilateral agreement failed to gain ground.

HO CHI MINH CITY: Southeast Asia is still years away from developing an innovative high-tech sector, industry players said Monday.

HANOI (Xinhua) — Inefficient border administration and inadequate infrastructure are major barriers to trade in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), World Economic Forum (WEF) report said on Thursday.

BUSINESS LEADERS want Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) ministers meeting in Japan this week to move a long-planned regional trade deal forward. Efforts towards open and fair trade in the 21-nation group are needed to keep up the “changing nature of modern… regional supply chains,” the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) said in a statement yesterday.

THE PHILIPPINES is backing an updated Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) work program aimed at increasing competitiveness, with the country wanting to increase deployment of skilled workers.

Europe’s recent travails have been of keen interest to us in Asia, especially as they triggered talk of a recurrence of the financial meltdown of 2008. So it was with both eagerness and curiosity that I agreed to take part last May 13 in a panel discussion on the subject of “Asian Expectations of Europe’s…

A clamor is growing in the business sector primarily among small entrepreneurs for the next government to review the open trade policy adopted under President Gloria Arroyo, including free trade agreements signed under her administration that would result in marginalizing local industries.

MANILA, Philippines–The cost of doing business in Asean is expected to lower and trade-related transactions to become simpler as the Asean Trade in Goods Agreement (Atiga), one of the region’s landmark economic agreements, entered into force Monday, May 17, the Asean Secretariat said.

TRADE Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) has urged the government to seize the opportunities brought about by fresh cooperation forged by economically-thriving Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) sub-region and the countries of Japan and China even as the world recovers from the effects of the global financial crisis last year.