Page 75 - kpi19897

in services in ASEAN was dramatic: a doubling of ASEAN export

of commercial services to the world market from US$68 billion
in 2000 to US$153.2 billion in 2007. Singapore, the ASEAN’s
financial hub, accounted for 45.4 per cent of the exports.

Presumably, the bulk of service transactions fall under Mode
3; however, the ASEAN Secretariat is unable to provide more

details on estimates and breakdowns.

The ASEAN set up several implementing bodies for AFAS
such as the Coordinating Committee on Services, Coordinating

Committee on Investment, Air Transport Sectoral Organization
and Working Committee on Financial Services. From the foregoing,

it was obvious that finance and air transport were priority service
industries. Other priorities identified were business services,
construction, maritime transport, telecommunication, tourism,

healthcare and logistics.

Several rounds of request-offer talks were undertaken

as early as the 1990s. Progress, however, was relatively slow.
So in the AEC 2015 Blueprint that was adopted in 2007,
specific liberalization targets were set: removal of restrictions on

trade in services in five priority sectors (air transport, e-ASEAN,
healthcare, tourism, and logistics) and removal “substantially

7 ASEAN Secretariat, ASEAN Integration in Services, 2009.

74

01-133 inside_PolicyForum_New.indd 74 30/1/2562 BE 14:25