ASIAN ECONOMIES must strengthen their cooperation and partnerships in the face of geopolitical tensions and global fragmentation, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said.
“Rising geoeconomic fragmentation due to continuing global policy shifts, while posing growing challenges, nonetheless offers new opportunities for the region to strengthen integration by facilitating intraregional flows of goods and services, capital, people, and knowledge,” ADB Chief Economist Albert Park said in a report on Monday.
The Asian Economic Integration Report is an annual review of progress in various dimensions of economic integration, including trade, global value chains, cross-border investment, finance, migration and remittances, and tourism.
The ADB sees significant progress in Asia and the Pacific in terms of regional integration, surpassing other regions, although the pace remains uneven across subregions.
“Over the past two decades, Asia has significantly tightened its regional economic integration, surpassing other regions in foreign direct investment (FDI) and the movement of people,” it said.
The bank estimated that the degree of Asia’s trade integration is comparable to that of the European Union plus the United Kingdom.
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Economics Associate Professor Yao Amber Li said geopolitical tensions also highlight the need for stronger integration.
“The second round of trade wars from Trump’s administration, I think, provides more incentive for Asian economies to build regional blocs and making deeper commitments to trade agreement,” she added.
The ADB noted the Philippine-South Korea free trade agreement that took effect in December as an example of the rise of preferential trade agreements in the region.
It also mentioned the Philippines as a major source of out-migrants from Asia and a major recipient of total remittances in 2024.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported that money sent home by migrant Filipinos rose 2.9% to $2.92 billion in January. — Aubrey Rose A. Inosante
