The European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) successfully held a forum that discussed the various opportunities and challenges in the Asean Economic Community (AEC). The forum also cited the need for Asean-wide advocacies to create a business environment conducive for success.

Held recently at the Makati Diamond Residences in Makati City, the conference dubbed “Europe-Asean Advocacy Forum” featured how EU-Asean Business Council (EU-ABC) executive director Chris Humphrey talked about Asean integration advocacies with the intention to get input from local and foreign companies in the country.

The EU-ABC was jointly created by the ECCP together with European chambers from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam in 2011. It is strongly supporting the region’s growth and integration with the intent to be ready for a larger integrated market with a level playing field.

The council has continuously acknowledged the importance of Asean as a market for Asean and European companies and as a key supply chain center for trading with the rest of the world. Europe has been credited with fostering the development of quality standards that shaped best practices across several industries and are now being used by companies in the Asean region.

Europe currently is the second biggest trading partner of Asean behind China with a total trade volume of $248.30 billion in 2014. Optimism is high that there will be a significant growth over the next few years once the integration is completed.

Several key government agencies including the Food and Drug Administration, Bureau of Customs, Department of Trade and Industry were present during the conference to reveal various Philippine positions on the AEC. They were also joined by the Bankers Association of the Philippines.

The forum expects participants to conduct a constructive exchange of ideas on how to address the concerns being faced by Philippine-based companies. It will also look at ways where AEC can become more conducive to investments and job generation.

The ECCP regularly organizes business meetings and seminars with prominent resource speakers to update its members on the latest issues and developments that could potentially have impact on their respective businesses.

Source: The Daily Tribune