ASEAN a ‘more open market’ than EU, US: World Economic Forum (Channel News Asia, 1 December 2016)
ASEAN, the 10-state Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a more open market for international trade than either the European Union or the United States, according to a World Economic Forum report released on Wednesday (Nov 30).
The WEF hailed the “increased integration into the global economy” of ASEAN members, which comprise Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. “ASEAN’s progress as an economic power comes at a time when the United States and European Union are becoming less open,” it said in a key finding of the 2016 Global Enabling Trade Report. The scorecard, which comes out every two years, measures the overall capacity of 136 economies to enable the flow of goods across borders.