Channel News Asia:More seamless customs procedures for ASEAN countries

SINGAPORE: Businesses can look forward to more seamless customs procedures as part of deeper economic integration between Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries, said Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang on Monday (Sep 8).
Speaking at the ASEAN Business Club Forum 2014, Mr Lim highlighted that almost all goods already move across borders in the region without tariffs. With such internal processes in place, ASEAN is now ready to take the next step and look to eliminate non-tariff trade barriers between its member countries.

Some of the initiatives include a self-certification system, which will allow exporters to certify export documents on their own, and an initiative called the ASEAN Single Window.

The ASEAN Single Window seeks to link the 10 ASEAN countries electronically, which would help businesses reduce cost and enjoy simpler and faster custom clearance of goods in ASEAN.

ROLE OF PRIVATE SECTOR

As governments work to remove trade barriers within the region, the private sector can play its part by identifying key areas to improve on, said Mr Lim. "ASEAN is not only about inter-government discussions. Businesses play a critical role, in telling us where the barriers to trade lie and where the bottlenecks in our regional and global value chains are. To that end, ASEAN countries are now working to develop its post-2015 economic agenda," he noted.

However, businesses may not be that forthcoming, particularly in the finance, telecoms and aviation industries. According to AirAsia, if companies can overcome their differences, it would be a big step forward. AirAsia's Group CEO, Tony Fernandes, said: "You can clearly see there is a lack of trust. So if the private industry agreed on some metrics and then went to the regulators, you would make the regulators' life a lot easier.

"So if AirAsia, Thai Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Jetstar, Tiger all agreed on something and said, 'Hey, the industry agrees on this', that is going to make it a lot easier for the regulators."

Together, ASEAN member states have a consumption and production market of 600 million people, and an average annual GDP growth of 6 per cent. By 2050, the grouping is forecast to be the fourth-largest economy in the world.

There is still plenty to do as the 2015 deadline for economic integration approaches. Even if ASEAN falls short of the target, industry players said they remain optimistic that post-2015, the regional grouping will be able to build on what it has achieved so far.

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