ASEAN FTAs with the EU and Southeast Asian approaches to services for development

• Main Author: Robles, Alfredo C.
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2012
• Subjects: Service industries > Southeast Asia; Foreign trade regulation > European Union countries; Southeast Asia > Foreign relations—Treaties; European Union countries > Foreign relations—Treaties; International Relations
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/3902
• Institution: De La Salle University

FDI in service industries will feature prominently in the EU's bilateral FTA negotiations with ASEAN countries. The EU is particularly interested in liberalizing such FDI in Southeast Asia, as this would go some way to compensating for the EU deficit in goods trade with the ASEAN countries. This article argues that contrary to EU statements, ASEAN countries do recognize that services are essential to development, but that they adopt a combination of two approaches that were first developed in urban contexts in developed countries: development and growth management. The first approach entails a greater role of the state in the promotion of service industries: financial services in Singapore and ICT in Malaysia. The second approach, illustrated by the experience of Malaysia and Thailand in the retail sector, seeks to mitigate the adverse economic and social effects of the growth of service industries. If EU FTA negotiations with individual ASEANmembers are to have any chance of success, theEUmust recognize the legitimacy of the specific approaches to service industries adopted by Southeast Asian countries. © 2012 Philippine Political Science Association (PPSA).