A forum on the ASEAN economic community (AEC) is scheduled to be conducted on May 27, 2014 at the Grand Astoria Hotel, Zamboanga City under the aegis of the Task Force on ASEAN Integration of the Regional Development Council, Region 9 (RDC-9).
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the designated chair of the AEC Task Force, had been tasked by the RDC to spearhead the preparations for the activity. In a press statement, Dr.SittiAmina Jain, DTI-9 OIC-Regional Director said that the underlying objective of the forum is to raise the level of awareness about the AEC and its implications to our economy both at the regional and national levels.
Dr. Jain disclosed that resource speakers from DTI Head Office in Manila will be on hand during the forum in the persons of Assistant SecretaryCeferino S. Rodolfo who will talk on the topic, Advancing Philippine Engagement in AEC; The Philippine Status of Commitments. He will be joined in by the DTI’s Bureau of Export Trade Promotion Director Senen M. Perlada who will tackle ASEAN Integration: An Overview, and the Philippine Free Trade Agreements (FTAs).
In the afternoon, speakers from the Philippine institute for Development Studies (PIDS) in the persons of Dr.ErlindaMedalla and Dr.Adoracion Navarro will discuss the topics Achieving AEC 2015: Trade Liberalization and Facilitation; and, Infrastructure and Logistics: Moving Toward AEC 2015, respectively.
She also disclosed that DTI’s Undersecretary for the Regional Operations Group, ZenaidaCuizon-Maglaya had been invited to give the keynote message during the forum.
All local chief executives in the region had been sent invitation to attend this very important event. Also invited are the region’s business leaders and industry captains, regional/provincial heads of national government agencies, the academe, NGOs, members of the press, and consumer organizations.
Quoting a passage in the ASEAN Economic Community Factbook, Dr. Jain said thatAEC 2015, in a nutshell, is thataspiration of the ASEAN ten-member states for regional economic integration bythe year 2015. It will have the following key features or characteristics: (1) a single market and production base, (2) a highly competitive economic region, (3)a region of equitable economic development, and (4) a region fully integrated into the global economy.
ASEAN or the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is composed of the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Lao PDR. (lsv/dti9)
