KUALA LUMPUR: Local companies, both big and small, need to “up their game” and gear up for competition with the upcoming Asean Economic Community (AEC) this year.
“With the market liberalisation, we’re talking about an economic community,” said International Trade and Industry Ministry Asean Economic Cooperation division senior director P Ravidran at a media roundtable yesterday on the impact of the Asean Free Trade Area on the commercial vehicle and logistics industry.
“The Government has put in place movements to remove barriers to trade, so it’s up to the private sector to take advantage and adjust their business models.”
He added that local companies could not just rely on the domestic market for growth.
“You have to export and with the removal of barriers to trade, it’s not just for the big companies to benefit, but also small and medium-sized enterprises.”
According to reports, the 10-member Asean has completed over 83% or 366 out of 436 economic integration measures under the AEC.
About 90% of the integration measures are expected to be achieved by the end of this year.
The AEC will be announced in November this year during the 27th Asean Summit.
Ravidran noted that the local logistics sector could benefit significantly from the AEC.
“As at 2013, intra-Asean trade is 24% but logistics is an important component of trade.
“If you want to grow, you have to ensure that there’s more trade taking place and logistics has to be efficient.”
He added that the long term target was to grow intra-Asean trade to 34%.
“Logistics is one of the 12 priority integration sectors in Asean. You have to move cargo efficiently and that saves cost for businesses.
“So logistics shall and will remain an important component of international trade.”
The upcoming AEC is expected to promote the harmonisation of rules and ease trading within the region.
“We need harmonisation of rules. We can’t have 10 different standards,” he said.
“If I were a company and I had to manufacture a product conforming to 10 different standards, it’s not economical.”
The roundtable was organised by Asian Trucker magazine and featured speakers from the logistics industry.
Asian Trucker magazine editor Stefan Pertz noted that the Malaysian Government had an important role to play when it came to providing clear guidelines on cross border land transportation to the industry.
“This is to ensure there will be no confusion and hiccups for companies which are operating in their respective countries when goods are transported across borders.”
“With the market liberalisation, we’re talking about an economic community,” said International Trade and Industry Ministry Asean Economic Cooperation division senior director P Ravidran at a media roundtable yesterday on the impact of the Asean Free Trade Area on the commercial vehicle and logistics industry.
“The Government has put in place movements to remove barriers to trade, so it’s up to the private sector to take advantage and adjust their business models.”
He added that local companies could not just rely on the domestic market for growth.
“You have to export and with the removal of barriers to trade, it’s not just for the big companies to benefit, but also small and medium-sized enterprises.”
According to reports, the 10-member Asean has completed over 83% or 366 out of 436 economic integration measures under the AEC.
About 90% of the integration measures are expected to be achieved by the end of this year.
The AEC will be announced in November this year during the 27th Asean Summit.
Ravidran noted that the local logistics sector could benefit significantly from the AEC.
“As at 2013, intra-Asean trade is 24% but logistics is an important component of trade.
“If you want to grow, you have to ensure that there’s more trade taking place and logistics has to be efficient.”
He added that the long term target was to grow intra-Asean trade to 34%.
“Logistics is one of the 12 priority integration sectors in Asean. You have to move cargo efficiently and that saves cost for businesses.
“So logistics shall and will remain an important component of international trade.”
The upcoming AEC is expected to promote the harmonisation of rules and ease trading within the region.
“We need harmonisation of rules. We can’t have 10 different standards,” he said.
“If I were a company and I had to manufacture a product conforming to 10 different standards, it’s not economical.”
The roundtable was organised by Asian Trucker magazine and featured speakers from the logistics industry.
Asian Trucker magazine editor Stefan Pertz noted that the Malaysian Government had an important role to play when it came to providing clear guidelines on cross border land transportation to the industry.
“This is to ensure there will be no confusion and hiccups for companies which are operating in their respective countries when goods are transported across borders.”
No announcement for today.