Status: Completed.
As a key stakeholder, the participation and involvement of the private sector is crucial to the creation of a strong foundation for the successful implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). Greater involvement and more structured participation of the private sector can contribute to the success of ASEAN in designing regional strategies and initiatives as well as in identifying impediments to deepen regional economic integration. The AEC, in turn, will also benefit the private sector, both large enterprises as well as small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This is due to an integrated economic region with greater liberalisation and freer movements of goods, services, investment and skilled labour as envisioned in the AEC.
The project supported a study to gather insights from ASEAN indigenous enterprises (large enterprises and SMEs) on their sentiments towards the AEC, including the business environment, investment climate, and integration outlook in the region; and in particular, on the impact of services trade liberalisation as facilitated through the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services (AFAS) and related regional cooperation programmes and initiatives. This study delved deeper to gauge the sentiment on services trade liberalisation and removal of barriers in services trade, focusing on three key sectors, namely financial services, tourism services, and distribution services.
This video highlights the findings of this study:
Download the report: ASEAN Business Sentiment Survey 2020-2021 | AADCP II (aadcp2.org)
For more information regarding this project, please contact the Enterprise and Stakeholders Engagement Division of the ASEAN Secretariat.