Eyeing huge prospects ahead: EU businesses gear up for ASEAN integration

CEBU, Philippines - As the formalization of the ASEAN integration takes effect next year, businesses in the European Union have already made its preparations to capitalize on the huge prospects the 600-million consumer-base region will offer.

"The European business takes ASEAN integration seriously. In fact, we have formed an EU-ASEAN Business Council composed of European Chambers in ASEAN and European companies active in more two ASEAN countries, and we are running every year an ASEAN-EU Business Summit, parallel to senior officials meeting between governments of ASEAN and EU," said Henry Schumacher, vice president for external affairs of the European Chamber of the Philippines.

Last year, the EU-ASEAN Business Council submitted an EU Business Position Paper on Information, Communication Technology.

He said these positions and recommendation were based on the common interest of that voice of business in ASEAN economies which support open markets and fair competiton, support foreign investment and service sector liberalization and recognizes ICT as an engine for innovative growth.

The Philippines for instance should work harder in raising the bar in the network readiness index rankings as of 2012, out of the ASEAN member countries, the Philippines is in the 86th place, outsmarted by its counterparts in the ASEAN, Vietnam (83), Indonesia (80), Thailand (77), Brunei (54), Malaysia (29) and Singapore at number two.

Schumacher said the Philippines should address issues in the ICT sector to move up in the readiness index and attract more investments in the ICT sector.

The Data Privacy Act and the Cybercrime Prevention Act must be implemented.

"The acquisition of Sun Cellular by PLDT should not have been allowed," he stressed.

Moreover, Schumacher emphasized that bandwidth needs to be increased, and that the installation of a Department of Information and Communications Technology is still "desirable" to move the ICT, Knowledge Process Outsourcing, Business Process Management, and Creative Industries sector forward. (FREEMAN)