56 PH businesses compete for Asean Business Awards

Screengrab from http://www.aseanbac.ph/

MANILA, Philippines – Fifty-six small and large Philippine companies are vying for the inaugural Asean Business Awards Philippines, which aim to recognize enterprises which explore and harness the opportunities offered by the Asean Economic Community (AEC).

“We are quite pleased with the participation of companies in the first ever Asean Business Awards Philippines. It is our hope that the awards will serve to inspire and motivate more Filipino businesses to participate and become key players in the broader regional market, as well as strengthen the Philippines’ overall competitiveness in the AEC,” Teresita Sy-Coson, Philippine representative to the Asean Business Advisory Council (ABAC) and vice-chair of SM Investments Corp. said in a press statement on Tuesday.

Of the 56 companies competing for the award, 66 percent belong to the small and medium enterprise (SME) segment while 34 percent are large businesses.

This is the flagship program for 2014 of the ABAC Philippines to drive visibility, awareness and adoption of the foundation principles put together on the AEC by 2015 and beyond.

For 2014, the Asean Business Awards Philippines will take on the theme “Enhancing Regional Competitiveness through National Cooperation.” The categories include Large Businesses for Innovation, Corporate Excellence and Asean Centricity; and Small and Medium Enterprises for SME, Young Entrepreneurs and Women Leaders.

AEC 2015, the roadmap of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), commits to form a single market and production base, a “highly competitive” economic region, a region of “equitable” economic development and a region fully integrated into the global economy. It is envisioned to be a region where there will be free movement of goods, services, investment, skilled labor as well as freer flow of capital – thereby creating a new economic powerhouse with 600 million people and combined gross domestic product (GDP) of close to $2 trillion.

“One Asean,” which is scheduled for implementation by 2015, will be the third most populous region and seventh largest economy of the world.

The 12 “priority” sectors included in the single market and production base under this roadmap are: agro-based products, air travel, automotive, “e-Asean,” electronics, fisheries, healthcare, rubber-based products, textiles and apparel, tourism, wood- based products and logistics as well as the food, agriculture and forestry sectors.

On e-Asean, a framework was adopted to achieve digital readiness with six key elements: connectivity, local content, a seamless environment for electronic commerce, a common marketplace for ICT (information, communication and technology) goods and services, human resource development, and e-governance.

ABAC is the regional platform created by Asean leaders to provide private business sector feedback and guidance to boost Asean’s efforts towards economic integration.

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