Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II, who is currently in Laos for a meeting of ASEAN members with the European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, held a bilateral meeting with Indonesia to share the Philippines’ view on the timetable for further integration.
"The Philippines is seeking the cooperation of Indonesia in view of the fact that the Philippines and Indonesia represent the bulk of purchasing power of ASEAN and should, therefore, have greater meaning than the rest of ASEAN in terms of regional trading with India and China."
Roxas, instead, is calling for a more deliberate pace that all member-countries could comfortably sustain.
"Liberalization is generally good, but some members might more than others readily benefit from being part of the bigger market," he stressed.
At the same time, Roxas noted, "others might not be able to open up as quickly since the downside of liberalization more readily impacts them than the liberalization success story does."
"While the Philippines would like to contribute to the common good of ASEAN, we should not be forced to throw in more commitments than we can afford at the moment," Roxas said, adding that "we should recognize that different countries in ASEAN are in different stages of developing which require different adjustments."
Singapore and Brunei have been at the forefront of calls for more openness.
The proposal for further trade liberalization and ASEAN integration stemmed from the recommendation of international consulting firm McKinsey which conducted a study on competitiveness of critical ASEAN sectors.
Among the recommendation of the McKinsey study is to come up with a number of possible sectors like electronics, consumer goods and tourism which would be identified as strategic sectors and subjected to an intensive regional integration program.