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Development Denied: JPEPA within AJCEPA

Development Denied: JPEPA within AJCEPA. IBON Foundation December 8, 2009. The Philippines (2008). Population of 91 million 2nd largest in Southeast Asia 13th largest in the world GNP (nominal) – $185.5 B GDP (PPP) – $317.5 B 5th largest in Southeast Asia 38th in the world

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Development Denied: JPEPA within AJCEPA

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  1. Development Denied: JPEPA within AJCEPA IBON Foundation December 8, 2009

  2. The Philippines (2008) • Population of 91 million • 2nd largest in Southeast Asia • 13th largest in the world • GNP (nominal) – $185.5 B • GDP (PPP) – $317.5 B • 5th largest in Southeast Asia • 38th in the world • GDP (PPP) per capita – $3,300 • 163rd in the world

  3. Background • AJCEPA • signed - April 2008 • entered into force - December 2008 • implemented by Japan and seven ASEAN countries: Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand • JPEPA • signed - September 2006 • entered into force - December 2008.

  4. Policy context of talks (1) • Strong bias for market-based foreign capital-driven and -defined ‘development’ • Vigorously implemented since 1980s, now arguably among most formally open countries in region • Yet unfavorable outcomes • Industrial & agricultural decline • Record joblessness, rising poverty

  5. Policy context of talks (2) • As a result, Philippine economy now has elements predisposing policy to further liberalization • Marked increase in presence of foreign capital with major export interests • Migration & remittances (i.e., cheap labor export) a major prop of the economy • Local industrial capital greatly diminished

  6. Philippines vis-à-vis JPEPA/AJCEPA (1) • FTA strategy not underpinned by any coherent policy of domestic agricultural & industrial development • Even before JPEPA/AJCEPA, Japan & Philippines in general already quite open to each other • JPEPA more comprehensive and substantial of the two deals (“WTO+”)

  7. Philippines vis-à-vis JPEPA/AJCEPA (2) • JPEPA • concrete commitments in goods, services, investments, and movement of natural persons • provisions for further action in intellectual property, government procurement, competition policy, dispute settlement • AJCEPA • concrete commitments only in goods • provisions for further action in other areas • explicitly recognizes SDT and flexibility for LDCs • has chapters on SPS and on standards

  8. Towards inclusive trade policies? • Clear what advanced economies want from the ASEAN countries – • Yet less clear what kind of mutually beneficial integration ASEAN countries can have with each other doesn’t just put them in a self-destructive race-to-the-bottom • Basic problem in the Philippines: retrograde political leadership opposed to alternative policies – • How to build democratic momentum to expand what is politically possible, and developmentally urgent, in the socioeconomic realm?

  9. Salamat po

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