ASEAN BAC - Brunei Year 2013

Welcome! As Chair of ASEAN Business Advisory Council (BAC) 2013, I would like to welcome you to our newly revamped ASEAN BAC Web Site. We have so much to share with you during the year of Brunei's Chairmanship of ASEAN 2013 “Our People Our Future Together”.

Most especially, under the ASEAN BAC Brunei 2013 Chairmanship and the overarching theme of “Moving Ahead Together” we would like to share with you our role and the deliverables for ASEAN 2013.

ASEAN's Growth and the opportunities that benefit ASEAN businesses
As you may already be aware, the ASEAN region has a combined population of approximately 600 million and a combined GDP exceeding USD 2 trillion that is projected to grow to USD 10 trillion by 2030. Based on this projection, ASEAN will have a larger GDP than Russia and Brazil by 2020. It is also the central driving force of East Asia, emerging to be one of the fastest growing regions in the world and opening up vast business and investment opportunities.



At the end of last year, 2012, ASEAN's growth was recorded at an estimated 5.2 per cent, projecting an undeniably strong economic outlook for the ASEAN region. Supported by increased confidence, domestic spending and intra-regional trade, this positive growth will only gain increased momentum and importantly, will benefit the region’s dynamic private sector.

ASEAN Economic Community
The goal of regional economic integration by 2015, what is known as the ASEAN Economic Community, aims to transform ASEAN into a single market and production base, a highly competitive region with equitable economic development, reduced poverty and socio-economic disparities, and importantly, fully integrated into the global economy.
In short, the AEC will transform ASEAN into a region with free movement of goods, services, investment, skilled labour, and freer flow of capital.

Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Agreement
Furthermore, the much anticipated Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, the World’s largest Free Trade Agreement (FTA) linking the 10 ASEAN countries with China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand; will also create opportunities for business and investment in the region .

So what does this all mean to businesses in the region?
The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), most especially through the implementations of Trade Facilitation and Free Trade Agreement (FTA) initiatives has allowed for businesses, most especially Larger Enterprises to benefit from the various economic and trade agreement, including preferential, bilateral trade agreements and most especially the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) and ASEAN+1 FTAs.

This does not necessarily mean that these agreements were tailored mainly for larger enterprises but that, one may assume the awareness of the agreements have yet to be fully realised.

With limited resources, Small Medium Enterprises have more to lose by not being ready to enter into the regional market and / or have the resources to understand and manoeuvre through the trading process.

And this is where the ASEAN Business Advisory Council, also known as ASEAN BAC, comes into the picture where the council plays a very important role – most especially in raising awareness on ASEAN and its many initiatives, as well as highlighting issues that impacts businesses and its ability to benefit from the region's positive growth, and the AEC.

ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN BAC)
ASEAN BAC is mandated by the ASEAN Leaders as the official ASEAN linkage that provides private sector feedback and guidance to boost ASEAN's efforts towards economic integration and through its many initiatives and related activities – including the annual ASEAN Business Awards and ASEAN Business and Investment Summit, as well as studies and surveys undertaken in collaboration with credible institutions; the council also identifies priority areas for consideration by the ASEAN Leaders.

ASEAN BAC THEME & DELIVERABLES
This year, under the overarching ASEAN BAC theme of “Moving Ahead Together”,
we are committed to aligning our objectives with regional goals and ensuring the inclusion of all businesses; and more importantly we are strongly emphasising on strengthening ties between governments, businesses and institutions through continual dialogue and identified prioritised areas of concerns.

How will we achieve our goal?
We are reinforcing our foundation and accelerating progress for a seamless regional economy by achieving outcome on a number of important areas, namely;

To build on our past successes with focused priorities on:
• Strengthening Regional Economic Integration and Expanding Trade
• Promoting Start Ups and the Sustainable Development of MSMEs, and
• Promoting the inclusion of Youth and Women

The council recognises the importance of MSMEs, especially as the engine of growth in the ASEAN region, and that youth and women plays a large role in contributing to ASEAN's economic development.

Currently, there are more than 96 percent of SMEs in the region; and women and youth cover between 50-95 per cent of labour in ASEAN and contribute 30-53 per cent to the GDP of its member countries.

Our work program is developed around the focus priority areas, and the outcome of the initiatives within the program will form part of the recommendations to be reported to the ASEAN Economic Ministers in August and the Leaders in October of this year.

We have revamped our website to provide an interactive communications platform with access to information on ASEAN BAC and its related activities. We will provide continual update on our progress during the ASEAN BAC Brunei 2013 Chairmanship, through this web site, as well as through our related events and the media.

We look forward to working with ASEAN, the ASEAN business community, and our strategic partners to make this year a successful one.

Fauziah DSP Hj Talib
ASEAN BAC Chair 2013