FORUM PREPARES RIZAL FARMERS FOR ASEAN FREE TRADE

Date Posted: October 14, 2014

PROVINCIAL CAPITOL, Antipolo City, Rizal – Local farmers from all over the province attended a farmers’ forum to better prepare them or gauge their preparedness from the implementation of the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) next year. 

The provincial government of Rizal, through the stewardship of Gov. Nini Ynares assured the farmers that government interventions are in place that seeks to help local farmers to be competitive with our ASEAN neighbors. 

In a statement, Gov. Ynares said that she believes this AFTA will bear positive results for our local farmers and also allayed their fears from being unable to compete with other ASEAN countries with far more advance farming technologies. She said that this is an opportune time to showcase the best of our agricultural products and take pride in it. 

The AFTA was signed on 28 January 1992. AFTA has been implemented in most of ASEAN’s member states: Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Laos and Myanmar, however, will be implementing AFTA on 1 January 2015 and Cambodia will be implementing AFTA on 1 January 2017. 

The main objectives of AFTA include increasing ASEAN’s competitiveness in global markets by reducing tariffs on trade between member states; attracting more direct foreign investment into the region; and increasing the levels of wealth and productivity of member states.