The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is a forward-looking trade agreement between member economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its free trade agreement (FTA) partners (AFPs) namely Australia, China, Japan, Korea, and New Zealand (i.e., non-ASEAN...

As the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) seeks to promote free trade and economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region, cross-border ICT-enabled services and business process outsourcing (BPO) are expected to contribute to economic integration and growth in the region. ICT-enabled...

The study identifies outstanding issues and bottlenecks and provides recommendations to facilitate the Philippines' full compliance to its commitments to the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). Various in-depth interviews and surveys were conducted with concerned stakeholders from government...

APEC 2015 provides an opportunity for the Philippines to advance its economic interests in services and contribute to regional integration by focusing on global value chains (GVCs) which are now believed to account for more than 50 percent of global trade. This paper looks at the GVC phenomenon...

The ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint targets an ASEAN single market in 2015. This is an ambitious reform agenda that seeks to ensure the free flow of services, investment, and skilled labor along with the free flow of goods and the freer flow of capital in the ASEAN region. For logistics...

The paper aims to assess and determine the capacity-building needs required to liberalize trade in services in the Philippines. Through the ASEAN Framework on the Trade in Services, the Philippines has committed to liberalize various sectors including air transport, maritime transport,...

The paper looks at the role of services in the economy and discusses why competitive services are necessary for achieving inclusive growth. An overview of Philippine services sectors is first presented highlighting their economic contribution as well as performance. This is followed by a...

Services trade is expected to be the new driver of global trade growing further in the coming years with the adoption of new technologies and rising incomes, among others. To some extent, the Philippines has already gained a foothold having achieved significant success in the BPO sector....

An efficient regulatory framework is a pre-requisite for developing a services market that supports competitiveness and offers opportunities for export diversification. Creating such a framework requires a comprehensive understanding of the laws, regulations, and practices affecting trade and...