Last April 22, Wednesday, the KSearch Consultants gained insights on one of the more important topics of today, the much-anticipated ASEAN Integration.

            Mr. Nestor Palabyab, the Acting Executive Director III of Philippine Trade Training Center, Department of Trade and Industry, gave a very informative overview of what ASEAN Integration is much about and its impact to our country.

Being one of the pioneer member countries of ASEAN, a 48-year-old political and economic organization in the Southeast Asian Region, the Philippines has taken an active role in supporting the regional group’s aspirations for a largely economic integration, among several regional pursuits. We learned from Mr. Palabyab that the envisioned economic integration goes beyond establishing a single market and beyond creating an expanded production base of consumer goods and source of services, capital, investments and skilled labour that will see cross-border movements.

The broad intent of the integration, Mr. Palabyab explained, includes the protection of member countries’ innate resources, as well as the promotion of a healthy and constructive competitive environment within the group. The net gainers from the integration, he said, would be those countries which will be most efficient in the utilization of their resources and would provide the best in quality of goods and services.  A more harmonious relationship among the member countries, he added, would be the ultimate test of said integration.

Not only did Mr. Palabyab make us aware of the implications of the ASEAN integration but he also pointed out the need for our country to compete at a higher level and that we cannot all be complacent in the face of the larger economic scales of our neighbours in the ASEAN community.

Last Wednesday’s session was part of a series of KSearch’s Knowledge Enrichment Program, otherwise more widely referred to internally as KEP.

Reported by:

Jennefer B. Cases

KSearch KEP Coordinator