ASEAN - EU Business Summit: Cooperation Opportunities for ASEAN and EU Business Communities

In his speech to the delegates, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung described the summit as a good opportunity for the ASEAN and EU business communities to foster cooperation and connectivity, and pass on their positions and recommendations to ASEAN and EU management agencies. The summit was of positive significance as ASEAN was fulfilling the goal of building its ASEAN Economic Community by 2015 while economic relations between ASEAN and the EU continued to develop strongly.

 

He said the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community will create an environment and conditions favourable for investment capital circulation and trade exchange, create business operation expansion opportunities and greatly benefit the more than 600 million ASEAN people.

 

The trade and investment cooperation between the two blocs has grown steadily in spite of global economic turmoil. The EU is ASEAN’s second biggest trade partner and the biggest source of foreign investment inflow. Meanwhile, ASEAN is the EU’s third biggest trade partner.

 

The EU has also provided much technical support for ASEAN for their common development targets, and its experience has proven very valuable during ASEAN’s community-building process.

 

He said since it joined ASEAN 18 years ago, Vietnam has been an active and responsible member of the group and an important contributor to the formation of a united and strong bloc, ASEAN, for prosperity and cooperation in the region. ASEAN has been and will continue to play an important role in Vietnam’s international integration policy. Despite economic difficulties, Vietnam is fully committed to realising the goal of successfully building the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015. In 2013, the country will join other ASEAN member states and partners to strive for a united and prosperous ASEAN Community.

 

In fact, Vietnam is becoming a gateway for international investors and businesses to access and expand their investment in ASEAN as well as free trade markets between ASEAN and partners.

 

As of end February 2013, Vietnam licensed more than 14,500 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects with a total committed capital of over US$210 billion, including 1,780 projects valued nearly US$35 billion from the EU. In 2012, Vietnam's trade turnover totalled US$230 billion, including nearly US$30 billion with the EU.

EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht said the EU and ASEAN must work more closely together to further expand the markets. ASEAN and the EU are important trading partners, especially on investment.

 

He added that the governments of both regions need to work together on reducing trade barriers and facilitating business investment. It is essential to reach internal unanimity and promote the potentials and strengths of every ASEAN country.

 

Mr Le Luong Minh, ASEAN Secretary General, said that given global economic uncertainties and risks, ASEAN countries must cooperate and coordinate closely together to have better integration and response to current uncertainties, to increase demand and to seek more sources of investment capital.

 

"This summit is an opportunity for ASEAN businesses to look for investment opportunities, aimed at encouraging private sector development and building business support agendas for the next year,” Minh added.

 

The Summit consisted of six topical sessions in which policy-makers and enterprises could make proposals to 10 ASEAN Economic Ministers and the EU Trade Commissioner, centring on agricultural economy, automotive industry, financial service, information and communication technology, infrastructure/connectivity, and pharmaceuticals.

 

The most important section of the event was the consultations between the business community and ASEAN Economic Ministers and the EU Trade Commissioner. During this session, the Ministers and the EU Commissioner answered many questions from the business community and acknowledged their proposals, which could be inserted into cooperation programmes within ASEAN or between ASEAN and the EU.

 

In agricultural economy, main proposals include reducing import tax and nontariff barriers; simplifying internal tax and rules in line with WTO regulations in order to create an equal playground for domestic goods and imports; unifying and simplifying labelling rules for packaged goods; defining technical standards and principles of product classification on the basis of internationally-recognized standards; and protecting intellectual property, including the protection of strong brand identities and geographical indications; and protecting traceability information to protect consumers and support legitimate trade.

 

Regarding the automotive industry, once the ASEAN Economic Community is established in 2015, ASEAN can become the sixth largest automobile market by 2018, with estimated sales of 4.7 million vehicles, doubling the figure of 2.4 million gained in 2012. Thus, member countries should create more favourable conditions for investments in the automotive industry by attaching auto products to UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe) standards; unifying approval and certification processes; approving higher standards of fuel quality and gas emissions; unifying definitions and procedures related to local contents; applying neutral emission technologies based on vehicle tax schemes, including tax breaks for vehicles with low CO2 emissions; and improving the quality of labour forces for the industry.

 

To develop powerful, competitive and sustainable financial services, the business community put forth four proposals: speeding up the integration of financial services; further opening the financial market for foreign competitors; developing and upgrading ASEAN capital markets and improving capital/bond markets; and assisting small and medium-sized enterprises.

 

In information technology and telecommunication, all operators should have an equal playground licensed by a single national regulatory authority, an overall market access with obligatory access prices, fair connections and regulatory competition.

 

Relating to infrastructure - connectivity, the business community called on the EU to support the ASEAN Logistics Roadmap and the Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity through liberating and facilitating logistics services. ASEAN countries should make laws recognising electronic documents and transactions, apply conventional transit procedures for intermodal and international transport means in order to improve efficiency and reduce costs for traders, simplify customs procedures through sharing electronic customs data.

 

In pharmaceuticals, the EU - ASEAN Pharmacy Consultative Group should be established to have discussions and develop solutions for any challenges. ASEAN should closely monitor risks relating to patients’ safety and should work with EU partners to remove these risks and develop standards for administrative infrastructure.