ASEAN-BAC and GCEL Announce The ASEAN HumaWealth Program to Position ASEAN as a Global Leader in Trade Efficiency
At the 2010 ASEAN Business and Investment Summit in Hanoi, the ASEAN HumaWealth Program, a joint ASEAN-BAC/GCEL effort using digital Soft Infrastructure to improve trade efficiency (saving ASEAN USD 44 billion annually), was presented to ASEAN ministers and leaders as part of an overall emphasis on growing trade and making SMEs more competitive. In summarizing the dialogue with the ministers, Dr. Doan duy Khuong, ASEAN-BAC Chairman said ASEAN-BAC “received full support for all that we suggested.”
Hanoi, Vietnam, November 01, 2010 (PressReleasePoint) — At the 2010 ASEAN Business and Investment Summit, ASEAN-BAC leaders announced a bold new program with the Global Coalition for Efficient Logistics (GCEL) to position ASEAN as a global leader in 21st century trade efficiency. The ASEAN HumaWealth Program will provide the digital tools and road map to help businesses in the region to connect much more efficiently with businesses in the region and around the world. Since its founding, ASEAN has focused mainly on physical infrastructure. While public and private leaders acknowledge that physical infrastructure remains important, digital connections are now essential to sparking new trade and economic integration. ASEAN has a clear vision for economic integration by 2010. Dr. Doan duy Khuong, ASEAN-BAC Chairman, said, “This Program is a highly concrete expression of the Summit’s theme: From Vision to Action. By putting a digital trade platform in the hands of ASEAN’s businesses, we can grow our trade, become more competitive, and achieve the economic integration to which we all aspire.”
The ASEAN HumaWealth Program will begin in a few months, with a commitment from both ASEAN-BAC leaders and GCEL officials, led by Co-Chairman Captain Samuel Salloum, to launch the centerpiece of the initiative in early 2011. The Asia Benchmark Trade Lane will deploy new digital soft infrastructure, with an initial reach of shipments from Indonesia to India. GCEL officials indicated that China may also participate, based on their ongoing discussions there. The Trade Lane serves as a benchmark because it will show how much the cost of moving products from shelf to shelf has decreased after the introduction of the digital tools.
At a news conference at the conclusion of the Business and Investment Summit, Dr. Khuong stated that the ASEAN HumaWealth Program was an integral part of ASEAN-BAC’s strong commitment to making SMEs more competitive and to improving trade efficiency, with a new emphasis on digital soft infrastructure. The partnership with GCEL and the ongoing commitment to ASEAN’s Trade and Investment Center were part of the ASEAN-BAC report to ASEAN ministers and leaders that followed the Summit. In summarizing the dialogue with the ministers, Dr. Khuong said ASEAN-BAC “received full support for all that we suggested.”
Digital soft infrastructure touches every product that ships, every household that buys those products, and every business that makes them—along with everyone in between and the attending service companies. Therefore, the ASEAN HumaWealth Program holds significant potential to spur new economic growth across the region. Based on an in-depth analysis of potential impacts, ASEAN-BAC and GCEL pointed to five major benefits:
•Reducing the cost of trade within ASEAN from the current average of 10% to 6%, saving the region $44 billion a year and reducing average unit operating costs for ASEAN businesses by up to 15%.
•Laying the foundation for a trade increase of up to USD 288 billion across Asia, and the corresponding potential to create up to 12.1 million new jobs in ASEAN.
•Making ASEAN?s millions of SMEs more competitive, more connected with global markets, and more bankable.
•Opening a vast new market for ASEAN?s finance, insurance, and technology industries, projected to reach USD 6 trillion by 2020.
•Maximizing throughput through existing trade infrastructure, while enhancing cargo security, boosting environmental sustainability, and improving disaster impact response.
ASEAN is at a critical economic turning point, where innovation and SMEs will be powerful drivers of economic progress. One of the strong features of the ASEAN HumaWealth Program, said Dato’ Syed Amin Aljeffri, Secretary General of ASEAN-BAC, is that this new Program will bring much-needed assistance to the region’s million of SMEs. “ASEAN’s small companies are expert at making things, but they often lack the capacity to market their products around the world. This Program represents a huge opportunity to help SMEs, the backbone of our economy, connect to global markets easily, quickly, and reliably.”
GCEL officials said the Program was ideally suited to the vision and entrepreneurial spirit of ASEAN’s business leaders. “As a nonprofit public-private partnership based in Switzerland, we are committed to equal opportunity for all in delivering 21st century trade efficiency,” said Captain Salloum. “But we are extremely impressed with the vision and can-do spirit that ASEAN-BAC brings to this Program.”
ASEAN-BAC leaders and GCEL both committed to ensuring the Program reaches timely and sure completion. This will include providing regular updates to ASEAN economic ministers, giving ASEAN businesses the training they need to use the new digital trade platform, providing the opportunity to ASEAN’s key service industries to deploy the new technology.
With the ASEAN HumaWealth program now in place, GCEL will be focusing its attention to the Middle East & Africa (MEA) region in coming weeks. Dr. Mark Drabenstott, GCEL’s Secretary General, said that that HumaWealth Program holds huge economic potential for MEA. “By reducing the cost of trade, HumaWealth can help this vital region seize the enormous potential evident in its youthful workforce and the growing ranks of entrepreneurs.” HumaWealth Awareness events are now being planned throughout the MEA region.
About ASEAN’s Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC)
ASEAN-BAC was established by the ASEAN Heads of State and Government (HOSGs) at the 7th ASEAN Summit in November 2001 in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam. Inaugurated at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia in April 2003, ASEAN-BAC?s primary mission is to promote public-private sector partnership to achieving the integration for the creation of an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). ASEAN-BAC provides private sector feedback on the implementation of ASEAN economic cooperation and identifies priority areas for the consideration of the ASEAN Leaders. ASEAN-BAC members are appointed by their respective Governments comprising high-level CEOs of companies from each member country and represented by 3 members per member country, with one representing the interest of small and medium size enterprises.
About the Global Coalition for Efficient Logistics (GCEL)
Based in Geneva, Switzerland, GCEL is a nonprofit, public/private partnership which has developed a comprehensive solution to the multiple problems that make the global logistics industry highly inefficient today. GCEL?s members include governments, NGOs, and leading finance, insurance, and technology companies around the world. GCEL is currently funded for the benefit of all through the generous support of public/private organizations around the world. The key to GCEL?s approach is its unique global structural formula that bridges the gap between governments and the private sector, allowing each to do what they do best. GCEL?s HumaWealth Program provides the tools and road map to create a 21st century platform for trade and commerce. This Program will be deployed in a way that provides a solution that is: truly global; open and equitable to all companies and all regions of the world; based on partnership rather than competition; and available to all potential users throughout the world and free of cost to all.
More information on GCEL can be found at www.gcel.net or contact info@gcel.net
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