REPORT ON EXPORT AND EXPORT OF AQUACULTURE FORESTRY AFRICA TO ASEAN MONTH 2.2021

Source: Institute of Policy and Strategy for Rural Development

Although the COVID-19 translation is still complicated in the region, Vietnam’s import and export activities in the first month of 2021 still recorded a high growth rate compared to the same period in 2020, exports reached 300 million USD, an increase of 30.39%; import reached USD 439 million, up 105.22%. The main export items of Vietnam to ASEAN are vegetables, wood and wood products, cassava and products from cassava, seafood, rice, meat rubber and meat products. Except for 4 items with reduced exports are: cassava and cassava products (-32%), tea (-22%), rubber (-9%), cashew (-8%). The remaining items have positive growth, especially some items such as fertilizers (+ 127%), animal feed and raw materials (+75%), wood and wood products (+ 52%), pepper (+ 38%), meat (+ 37%), rice (+ 35%), seafood (+ 22%), vegetables (+ 15%) … (detailed appendix) .

The ASEAN Unofficial Ministerial Meeting (IAMM) was convened on March 2, 2021 via videoconference. ASEAN countries have agreed to use 10.5 million USD from the ASEAN Fund to respond to COVID-19 to buy vaccines to support the people of the member countries, on the basis of equal distribution among all 10 countries. The implementation of the ASEAN Overall Recovery Framework is also progressing positively on all three Community pillars, with 24 out of 183 completed initiatives and 127 scheduled for implementation in 2021. ASEAN countries also agreed. Early embarking on building an ASEAN travel corridor framework to facilitate essential mobility of the people of ASEAN countries in the context of complicated epidemics.

On March 2, Thailand approved the reopening of three closed border checkpoints linking Thailand with Laos to prevent the spread of COVID-19 since the first outbreak last year. However, the reopening will only apply to freight and product shipments. Strict measures to contain COVID-19 will be put in place at the checkpoints. Laos is currently Thailand’s second largest cross-border trading partner after Malaysia. According to Thailand’s Ministry of Commerce, the country’s cross-border trade with Laos in 2020 will reach 190 billion baht ($ 6.27 billion), down 3.85% year-on-year. Last year, Thailand’s total border trade fell 1.7 percent from 2019, mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of border checkpoints to curb the spread of the disease. like the strengthening of the baht. Thailand’s Ministry of Commerce forecasts the country’s cross-border trade will recover with growth of 3-6% this year, thanks to the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine and the global economic recovery. Thailand’s cross-border trade, including transit trade, is likely to generate 1,360-1,400 billion baht ($ 44.6-45.9 billion) in 2021 compared to 1,310 billion baht in 2020. Thailand is expected to propose easing disease control measures in 54/77 Thai provinces, instead of the current 35 provinces. The first batch of 200,000 doses of Sinovac arrived in Thailand on February 24, as part of an order for 2 million doses of vaccine with a total value of 1.2 billion baht (about 40 million USD). If there are no unexpected incidents, the next batch of vaccines will arrive as planned and Thailand will have enough vaccines to achieve community immunity.

In 2020, South Africa acceded to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia to take over the significant commercial and development opportunities available in this region. The country will also benefit from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its partners. RCEP creates the largest free trade bloc in the world, with a gross domestic product (GDP) of about 26,000 billion USD, equivalent to 30% of global GDP. South Africa will promote engagement with ASEAN to strengthen trade, investment and tourism ties for mutual benefit, while at the same time supporting development and skills training for South Africans. South Africa has reached an agreement to export beef to the Malaysian market since November 2020, exporting fruit to Thailand. South Africa is continuing to negotiate to export fresh grapes to Vietnam and Korea, to export avocado to India and Japan, as well as to export pears to China and India.

Canada conducted public consultation on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership (CEPA) with Indonesia. The construction of CEPA with Indonesia will help Canada reach a free trade agreement (FTA) with ASEAN, which is in the stage of exploration negotiations. Canada has been a dialogue partner of ASEAN since 1977 – one of 10 countries in this status – through which the two regions cooperate on economic interests, political and security issues, regional integration and dialogues between faiths. Bilateral trade between Canada and Indonesia remains small – just over $ 3.7 billion in 2019 – compared to its neighbor the US, whose bilateral trade with Indonesia totaled $ 30 billion in the same year. While Canada continues to participate in establishing CEPA with Indonesia, it is also looking for opportunities to seek an FTA with ASEAN. Canada already has free trade agreements with a number of ASEAN countries (Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and Brunei) through membership of the Comprehensive Agreement for the Progress of the Pacific Partnership Agreement (CPTPP). officially signed in 2018.

Singapore’s Digital Economic Partnership Agreement (DEPA) with New Zealand and Chile is effective January 7, 2021. The DEPA was first signed in June 2020 and is a ‘technical only’ trade agreement. The world’s first ‘digital’ rules set for digital commerce and digital economic cooperation. DEPA will establish new approaches to digital commerce issues, from data innovation to easy cross-border data flows to leveraging AI. The digital economy will ultimately help businesses reduce operating costs and improve each other’s market access.

India is the third most affected country in the world by the Covid-19 pandemic and has had a significant GDP shrink due to repeated and prolonged closures across the country. In that context, after 10 years since the FTA with Southeast Asia took effect, India has requested to reconsider the scope of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA), which entered into force. January 2010, aimed at making free trade agreements more user-friendly, simple and facilitating trade for businesses. India argues that China has taken excessive advantage of the ASEAN-India FTA (AIFTA) due to lax rules of origin. India’s exports to ASEAN for the period 2019-2020 were worth $ 31.49 billion while imports from this bloc reached $ 55.37 billion. One of the barriers to increased trade is ASEAN’s tariff barriers. The current AIFTA framework calls for a minimum value increase of 35% in one of the ASEAN countries to qualify for an FTA in India.

Many regions of the world are facing the shortage of empty containers due to the epidemic of acute pneumonia COVID-19 along with the uneven global economic recovery. The scarcity is most severe in Asia. The shortage of containers is pushing ocean freight up 300%, and the worst hit are e-commerce companies and consumers. Mirko Woitzik, a manager of risk solutions at supply chain company Resilience36, said that in December 2020 ocean freight rates increased by 264% compared to the first time. last year. For the journey from Asia to the West Coast of the United States, sea freight increased 145% in just one year. The shortage of containers in Asia also quickly spread to many European countries such as Germany, Austria, and Hungary – as shipping lines sought to change their container routes to the East. Meanwhile, air freight operations have been significantly reduced due to the corona virus and travel restrictions.

IMF International Monetary Fund (January 2021) forecasts the growth of the ASEAN-5 region[1] will strongly rebound at 5.2% in 2021 and 6.0% in 2022, which could help to improve regional trade in the near future. According to a survey published by the Research Center of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) under the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS-Yusof Ishak) based in Singapore on February 10. Up to 76.0% of respondents think that the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic to human health is currently the region’s most pressing challenge. Meanwhile, 63% identified unemployment and economic recession as big problems; 40.7% rated the socio-economic gap and income gap as a major challenge for ASEAN in 2021. The survey also mentioned that the US-China competition is taking place, of which 76.3% of the total China remains the undisputed economic powerhouse in the region and 72.3% are concerned about China’s growing economic influence. Meanwhile, the proportion of trust in the US as a strategic partner and regional security increased from 34.9% in 2020 to 55.4% this year. 68.6% predict that the new President Joe Biden’s administration will increase the level of US engagement with the region. The ISEAS Institute survey also showed that the majority continued to express concern about the South China Sea situation, thereby supporting the application of the principle of respect for international law in this regard.