ALF 3: Photos with Friends, Kathmandu Conference

More photos here during the 3rd Asia Liberty Forum (ALF) held at Soaltee Crowne Plaza, Kathmandu, Nepal, last January 8-10, 2015.

Charu Chadha of Media 9 in Kathmandu, publisher of Business 360 monthly magazine of which I am one of their columnists, sent me today our group photo. From left: Casey Lartigue of Freedom Factory Ltd. (Seoul, S. Korea), Charu, me, Cong Minh Nguyen (doimoi.org, Hanoi, Vietnam). Casey represented Dr. Chung-ho Kim, President of Freedom Factory, who was with us in the small  group roundtable discussion on "The Constitution of Liberty in Asia" held in Phuket, Thailand, October 2005.

Marc Abela, center, also posed with me and Minh, he represented Mr. You and Yoshida Hiroshi of the Japanese for Tax Reforms (JTR) and Institute for Free Economy (IFE), respectively. Mr. You and Hiroshi were also with us in Phuket in 2005.

Another photo with Minh and Charu. Haaaaa, we were relieving the past. :-)

Ok, here's one of our group photos in Phuket in 2005. This was during the Economic Freedom  Network (EFN) Asia conference, a day after our roundtable discussion. From left: Simon Lee (Lion Rock Institute, Hong Kong), Mr. ____ (Association for Liberal Thinking, Turkey), Chung-ho Kim (then with Center for Free Enterprise, Seoul), Colleen Dyble (Atlas, USA), Mr. You (JTR, Japan), Charu, me, and Yoshida Hiroshi (IPSA, IFE, Japan).

Another photo. Leon Louw holding a camera (Free Market Institute, S. Africa) and Mohit Satyanand (Liberty Institute, India). That was nearly 10 years ago.

More photos during the 3rd ALF. From left: Peter Wong (LRI, Hong  Kong),  Jadranco Brkic (Bosnia), Randy Hencken (Seasteading.org), me. Randy discussed the concept of seasteading, people who want small and limited government wanting to create their own country on the sea, outside the political jurisdiction of any existing country although within the EEZ. It's a bright and revolutionary idea.

From left: me, Cindy Cirquetela (Atlas, USA), Linda Whetstone (Network for a Free Society, UK) and Xingyuan Feng (Unirule, CIPA, Beijing, China). Atlas and NFS, along with FNF South Asia regional office, provided lots of logistical and financial support for that conference.

From left: Bican Sahin (Freedom Research Association, Turkey), me, Gulmira Aidaralieva (Central Asian Free Market Institute/CAFMI, Kyrgyz Republic), _____ also of CAFMI, and Ruki Fernando (Human Rights activist, Sri Lanka).

The Executive Director of Samriddhi Prosperity Foundation, Robin Sitoula. Robin is a friend since about 7-8 years ago. Samriddhi  is the local host that co-sponsored with the Asia Center for Enterprise (ACE) in holding  the 3rd ALF. Great job, fantastic conference, Robin and Samriddhi guys. Congratulations once again.

On the 2nd night  of the conference, after the speeches and before dinner, there was a short song number, it was lively, I pushed Arpita Nepal (lady in white dress on the left), wife of Robin and Director for Research of Samriddhi, to a snake dance. Many participants followed and formed a long snake dance :-)  Man holding the microphone  was the  one  who  sang the  lively song.

Miscellaneous photos: with Wan Saiful Wan Jan (IDEAS, Malaysia) and Barun Mitra (Liberty Institute, India), Adinda Muchtar (Indonesia Institute, Jakarta) and Miho Mochizuki (JTR, Tokyo).

Many thanks again, ACE and Samriddhi, for that wonderful conference.

Special thanks to the following: (1) Media 9/Business 360 for sponsoring my plane fare, (2) ACE/Samriddhi for sponsoring  my 4 nights hotel accommodation, and (3) EFN Asia for sponsoring my related expenses (PH travel tax, Nepal visa fee, etc.).
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See also: 
Asian Liberty Forum 2015, Kathmandu, January 07, 2014 
ALF 2: Opening Dinner Program, January 09, 2015

Asian Liberty Forum 2015, Kathmandu

The 3rd Asia Liberty Forum will be held this week in Kathmandu, Nepal. It is mainly sponsored by the Center for Civil Society (CCS) India and the Asia Center for Entrepreneurship (ACE), and is co-sponsored with  Samriddhi, The Prosperity Foundation (Nepal), FNF South Asia, and the Atlas Network (US).

Here is the program.

Day 1, January 08

6:30 pm  Welcome Address & Keynote Address

Introduction (Video) by Baishali Bomjan, Asia Centre for Enterprise

Welcome by Suraj Vaidya, Chairman, Samriddhi Foundation, Nepal

Opening Address by Linda Whetstone, 

Chairman and CEO, 

Network for a Free Society, UK

Dinner

Day 2, January 09

Speed Networking

Hosted by Deependra Chamlagain, Samriddhi Foundation, Nepal

Liberty in 2014

Welcome by Robin Sitoula, 

Executive Director, 

Samriddhi Foundation, Nepal

Address by Dr Ronald Meinardus, 

Regional Director, 

Friedrich Naumann Foundation South Asia, India

Freedom Champions in Asia: Reasons for Hope

Chair: Peter Goettler, Atlas Network, USA

Speakers:

Nouh El-Harmouzi, Arab Center for Scientific Research, Morocco

Cong Minh Nguyen, DoiMoi.org, Vietnam

H'ala Shakshir, Palestinian Centre for Peace and Democracy

Asoka Obeyesekera, Verité Research, Sri Lanka

Ulil Absar Abdalla, Freedom Institute, Indonesia

Casey Lartigue, Freedom Factory, South Korea

Elevator Pitch by Think Tank Start Up Training Graduates

25 graduates from the Think Tank Start-up Training will each deliver a one minute pitch to the audience. The winner, decided by audience voting will receive USD 500 prize money.

Hosted by Cindy Cerquitella,
Program Manager,

Atlas Leadership Academy, USA

Concurrent Breakout Sessions

Fund Students, Not Schools: Education of Choice for all

Track A: Big Ideas

Chair: Gagan Thapa, Constituent Assembly, Nepal

Speakers:

James Tooley, Newcastle University, UK

Rohan Joshi, Centre for Civil Society, India

Wan Saiful Wan Jan, 

Chief Executive Officer,
Institute for Democracy & Economic Affairs, Malaysia

Madan Rai, Ashoka Fellow, Nepal

Ensuring a Policy Win: Strategies & tactics to engage with governments

Track B: Think Tank Leadership

Chair: Dr Ronald Meinardus, Regional Director, Friedrich Naumann Foundation South Asia

Speakers:

Md. Farhad Hossain, Information Commission of Bangladesh

Chakshu Roy, Parliamentary Research Services, India

Ali Salman, Policy Research Institute of Market Economy, Pakistan

Innovative products to replicate

Track C: Products & Tools

Chair: Judd Weiss, Weiss Investment, USA

Speakers:

Fred Fransen, Common Sense Economics, USA

Shefali Malhotra, 100 Laws Project, iJustice, India

Surath Giri, Onion Films, Nepal

Kelly Dhru, Lawtoons, Research Foundation for Governance in India

Concurrent Breakout Sessions

Free market environmentalism

Track A: Big Ideas

Chair: Dalibor Rohac, Cato Institute, USA

Speakers:

Anil Chitrakar, Samriddhi Foundation, Nepal

Barun Mitra, 

Founder and Director,

Liberty Institute, India

Rainer Heufers, Siap Solutions Inc, Singapore

Effective Board Management for greater outreach

Track B: Think Tank Leadership

Chair: Dan Grossman, 

Chairman of the Board, 

Atlas Network, USA

Speakers:

Linda Whetstone, Network for a Free Society, UK

Bridgett Wagner, 

Director of Coalition Relations, 

Heritage Foundation, USA

Luis Miranda, Centre for Civil Society, India

Measuring Institutional Performance

Track C: Products & Tools

Chair: Kriengsak Chareonwongsak, 

President, 

Institute of Future Studies for Development, Thailand

Speakers:

Lorenzo Montanari, 

Executive Director, 

Property Rights Alliance, USA

Sumita Kale, Indicus Analytics, India

Zilvinas Silenas, Lituanian Free Market Institute

Robert Alt, Buckeye Institute, USA

Remembering the lost heroes of Liberty

A tribute to the great champions of Liberty we’ve lost this past year and a toast to continuing their legacy.

Hosted by Rainer Heufers, 

Founder and Managing Director, 

Siap Solutions Inc, Singapore

Expressing ideas for a Free Society; a Creative Competition – Awards Ceremony

Hosted by Sarita Sapkota, Samriddhi Foundation, Nepal

Dinner

Day 3, January 10

The next big idea: Alternatives to current governments

Speaker: Randolph Hencken, The Seasteading Institute, USA

Concurrent Breakout Sessions

Open borders & Free trade: migration & trade policies in Asia

Track A: Big Ideas

Chair: Suraj Vaidya, SAARC, Nepal

Speakers:

Ken Schoolland, 

President, 

International Society for Individual Liberty, USA

Cris Lingle, Universidad Francisco Marroquin, Guatemala

Kriengsak Chareonwongsak, Institute of Future Studies for Development, Thailand

Raising money for Liberty: How, What & Whom

Track B: Think Tank Leadership

Chair: Daniel Green, Templeton Foundation, USA

Speakers:

Robin Sitoula, Samriddhi, Nepal

Peter Wong, 

Executive Director, 

Lion Rock Institute, Hong Kong

Gulmira Aidaralieva, Central Asian Free Market Institute, Kyrgyz Republic

Evidence-based policy

Track C: Products & Tools

Chair: Tom Palmer, 

Vice President for Intl. Programs, 

Atlas Network, USA

Speakers:

Baladevan Rangaraju, India Institute, India

Jamyang Tashi, QED, Bhutan

Nilanjan Chaudhuri, Centre for Civil Society, India

Celebrating 10 years of Jeevika Asia Livelihood Documentary Festival & Awards Ceremony for 2014

What started as nine film entrees for the festival today boasts of over 100 entries each year from all over the world. Following a 2-day screening in Delhi, the awards ceremony will be held during the conference with a  screening of the best films followed by a discussion on the theme.

Host: Samta Arora & Sadaf Hussain, Centre for Civil Society, India

Concurrent Breakout Sessions

Are Religion & Liberty Compatible?

Track A: Big Ideas

Chair: Charu Chadha, 

Editor, 

Media 9, Business 360, Nepal

Speakers:

Bican Sahin, Freedom Research Association, Turkey

Chin Huat-Wong, Penang Institute, Malaysia

Ruki Fernando, Human Rights Activist, Sri Lanka

Building & retaining a high performing team

Track B: Think Tank Leadership

Chair: Nupur Hasija, Friedrich Naumann Foundation South Asia

Speakers:

Ashutosh Tiwari, Sherpa Adventure Gear & Samriddhi Foundation, Nepal

Dhanuraj D, Centre for Public Policy Research, India

Hamad Siddiqui, Center for International Private Enterprise, Pakistan

Messaging for liberty

Track C: Products & Tools

Chair: Daniel Anthony, Atlas Network, USA

Baishali Bomjan, Centre for Civil Society, India

Wan Saiful Wan Jan, Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs, Malaysia

Zero Hour with Freedom Champions

Mentors:

Ali Salman, Policy Research Institute of Market Economy,Pakistan

Bridgett Wagner, Heritage Foundation, USA

James Tooley, Newcastle University, UK

Ken Schoolland, International Society for Individual Liberty, USA

Linda Whetstone, Network for a Free Society, UK

Rainer Heufers, Siap Solutions Inc, Singapore

Robert Alt, Buckeye Institute, USA

Robin Sitoula, Samriddhi, Nepal

Tom G Palmer, Atlas Network, USA

Wan Saiful Wan Jan, Institute for Democracy & Economic Affairs, Malaysia

Zilvinas Silenas, Lituanian Free Market Institute

Freedom Dinner

Closing Address by Dr. Bholanath Chalise

Freedom Toast by Pinky Gurung, Blue Diamond Society, Nepal

Freedom Toast by Louis Lo, Shue Yan University, Hong Kong

Live performance by Kutumba!

Vote of Thanks by Arpita Nepal, 

Director of Research and Development,

Samriddhi Foundation, Nepal

Close out and announcement for ALF 2016 by Baishali Bomjan, Asia Centre for Enterprise

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See also:
EFN Asia 43: Day 1 of Conference 2014, November 06, 2014
EFN Asia 44: Day 2 of Conference 2014, November 10, 2014

Nepal, Maoist Government and Samriddhi, Part 2

A friend in Kathmandu, Nepal, Robin Sitoula, co-founder and President of a free market think tank there, Samriddhi, the Prosperity Foundation, sends me some updates about their work there. Below are two updates from Robin. Somehow they give readers some idea how it is to live under a Maoist government, the ruling coalition in Nepal.

There is also a Maoist movement in the Philippines, led by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed unit, the NPA. But it is a lost and ideologically hopeless movement, formed in 1968 or 46 years ago. It exists only because of opportunism and desire for money. Their above-ground leaders winning as Party-list Congressmen and getting huge money in pork barrel fund every year, and the extortion activities known as "revolutionary tax" by the NPA, netting huge money too, victimizing some medium and big companies in the provinces. While the Maoists in the Philippines are forever losers, the Maoists in Nepal are the ruling party in power.

Robin and his buddies in Samriddhi, also my friend Charu Chadha of Business 360 and her team, and other brave and independent-minded individuals in Nepal, are doing their work. Asserting the philosophy of entrepreneurship, citizen self-reliance and rule of law. Good work my friends, keep the drums rolling.
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March 05, 2014

Since turning into a Federal Democratic Republic in 2008, Nepal had its seventh Prime Minister last  month in Nepali Congress leader, Sushil Koirala. However, we had another reason to celebrate the month of love here at Samriddhi – getting commitment from the government to embrace “second generation of economic reforms”.

With the declaration “A Commitment to Economic Reform”, the government has pledgedto improve entry and exit procedures, improve its performance in the Doing Business indicators and eliminate unnecessary regulatory processes (starting with agriculture, tourism and energy sector) following the Nepal Economic Summit, which took place Feb 26 -28, 2014. Samriddhi, being the knowledge partner of the summit, had been working with the government in preparing the reform agendas months before the summit and a major win from the discourse was solidifying the understanding between the government and private sector to liberalize the energy sector to help Nepal come out of the acute electricity shortages resulting into the current twelve hours a day power outage situation. The summit was organized by the Government of Nepal and the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Known to many as an important person in the movement for promoting liberty around the world, Mr. Rainer Hufeurs of SIAP Solutions (Singapore), was also one of the key speakers in the opening session of the Nepal Economic Summit  and he shared examples from his work in East Asian nations to make a strong case for policy reforms in the direction of free markets. Right after the summit, Mr. Hufeurs also spent three days facilitating Samriddhi’s strategic planning workshop and we will be happy to share our strategic direction with you for the year 2014-15 after we process and put the information together this month.  

April 03, 2014

The month of March became special for Nepal when its cricket team debuted at the ICC World Twenty20 cricket and gave a performance which many consider harbinger of Nepali cricket’s bright future. Although with outlook not as optimistic as Nepali cricket, the Constituent Assembly (CA) made progress in the past month by starting the process of taking ownership of the work accomplished by the erstwhile CA. Also the coalition Government of Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal –United Marxists Leninist launched their 13-page Common Minimum Program which, among other things, vows to frame a new constitution within a year. What we are now wondering about is the exact baseline date for the much talked about one year deadline.

For us here at Samriddhi Foundation, March was the month to step out and learn about the economic aspirations of Nepalese living in different parts of Nepal to identify policy priorities. Samriddhi team held consultations in five economics hubs (Biratnagar, Birgunj, Pokhara, Nepalgunj and Kathmandu) and spoke with over two hundred fifty local leaders to come up with a discussion paper that informs the current leadership about the economic aspirations of people and highlights policy priorities. Preliminary findings have shown an overwhelming support for a more open economy with government's role as a facilitator and the policy priorities to be focused on land usage, reforming labour laws and curbing corruption. These findings were shared with more than two dozen Constituent Assembly members in Kathmandu last week and we will be sharing the final discussion paper on economic aspirations and policy priorities with you in our next email.

On another high note, 24 young minds joined over 400 Arthalaya graduates last month adding vigor to the movement young people have been creating in Nepal through their entrepreneurial moves.  Arthalaya (School of Economics and Entrepreneurship) has been an award winning program of Samriddhi and has inspired more than two dozen young graduates of the program to start their own enterprises and promote entrepreneurship by forming entrepreneurship clubs in their colleges, writing blogs and articles and encouraging discussion among their friends on the virtues of markets. And the innovative music industry entrepreneurs from Nepal, Kutumba, wrapped up March for us on a sweet note by sharing their story of success in “Last Thursdays with an Entrepreneur”.
Some of things we wrote about in the past month and were published in the national dailies:

·         Response to the recent Oxfam report on wealth gap pointing out 85 of the wealthiest people in the world owning as much wealth as the poorest half of the world

·         Problem of transmission adding to Nepal’s electricity crisis

·         Small businesses like Kirana Pasals struggling with the complicated process ofbeing formal

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See also: 
Nepal and its Maoist Government, December 05, 2013 
Business 360 8: TPP, RCEP, SAARC and Free Trade, June 17, 2013

Nepal and its Maoist Government

* A guest post from a friend in Kathmandu. Robin is a co-founder of Samriddhi, The Prosperity Foundation (http://samriddhi.org/), a free market think tank in Nepal. He was featured in the June 2013 issue of Business 360, Nepal's free market leaning monthly business magazine where I also write a column under "Free Market".
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Nepal’s new mandate for the Constitution Assembly

Robin Sitoula

03 December 2013

Nepal has been a part of an elongated political transition for nearly half a decade now. Following the Nepalese Civil War (1996-2006) monarchy was abolished and the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists) emerged as a major mainstream political party from the first ever Constituent Assembly (CA) election held in 2008. After the first CA failed to deliver the constitution in May 2012 and got dissolved, efforts were made to create a multiparty government. But the political negotiations where the Maoist party exercised much influence (Dr. Baburam Bhattarai from UCPN (Maoists) still being the Prime Minister of the caretaker government) led to the formation of a technocratic electoral government in March 2013. In the meantime, a hardline faction split from UCPN (Maoists) in June 2012. The split faction led by Mohan Vaidya later opposed the second CA elections held in November 2013 and even used violent means, such as bombing, to deter the political parties and citizens from participating in the elections.

Amidst ambiguity and confusion regarding the electoral technocratic government, led by Chief Justice Mr. Khil Raj Regmi, the second CA election was initially announced to be held in November 2012. Despite speculations to the contrary, the elections were held in a largely free and fair manner on November 19, 2013. With a voter turnout of over 75% (in the face of violent obstructions and national strike by the hardline Maoist faction) and deemed free and fair by almost all national and international observers, the results of the election has left a huge majority of people and analysts shocked, especially the Maoist party itself. With the results of both first-past-the-post voting and proportional representation, it could be said that Nepal’s politics has moved marginally towards right where Nepali Congress, the country’s oldest political party and considered to be fairly centrists have won around 34 percent of CA seats. Similarly, The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) has come in second with around 30 percent seats. Despite their party’s name, the Marxist-Leninists are considered only slightly left of the center in Nepal. The Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the dominant Communist party, secured only around 14 percent of the seats, which is a small fraction of its previous share of 37% in the 2008 CA election. The conservative party with monarchy and Hindu nation still on their agenda won around 4 percent of the seats whereas other parties considered left of the center constitute around 11 percent of the total CA seats.

  

The Unified Communist Party of Nepal –Maoist (UCPN-M), which was the largest party in the last CA and other Madhesee parties-- with predominance in the southern belt in the2008 election-- who lost several seats do not seem to be happy with the results. They have been claiming that the elections were rigged and it should be ‘re-evaluated’. UCPN- Maoist has gone to the extent of announcing that the party will not participate in the CA process if the results are not revaluated. This is seen by many as yet another tactic to divert the agenda from the Maoist Sumpremo Prachanda’s failure as a party leader and to ensure their larger participation in the CA despite the hard hit loss.

Looking at the current mandate of the largest (but still not enough to 51% majority) party in the CA, Nepali Congress should lead the government in coalition with other parties and also lead the process of constitution formulation and promulgation. The CA needs to finalize the constitution within two years and run the government of the next four years. Nepali Congress has had the reputation of being a pro economic liberalization party. However, power conflict and personality clashes and rifts within the party are very strong, as seen in the past. This kind of political bickering can already be seen within Nepali Congress and CPN-UML. Yet people of Nepal are anticipating a new government will be sworn in within a month’s time. Nepali Congress, as a mandated leader of this process has been making public statements that it would work towards creating a bi-partisan consensus government in this leadership. But the possibility of a bi-partisan consensus government seems bleak. In a case like this, the best likeliness is that the largest two parties -Nepali Congress and CPN-UML- will form a joint government. If this scenario works out, many expect a fairly stable political situation and possibility of a constitution actually being promulgated within stipulated time period. However, the strategic steps of the UCPN-Maoists will be critical to the overall process. As the political discourse has been shaping every day, it is yet premature to predict what the UCPN (Maoists) will settle with. Will they accept the mandate of the elections and adhere to the accepted democratic norms, or will they come up with new non-democratic stunt to win political strength? That is yet to be seen.

(Note: The percentage of parties’ representation in the CA (mentioned here) is calculated without considering the 26 seats that will be nominated by the new cabinet of Ministers and will be added to the current 575 CA seats to form the full assembly of 601 members).

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See also: 
Busiiness 360 1: Nepal and the Philippines, November 26, 2012 
Business 360 4: Brownouts and Power Deregulation, February 26, 2012

Business 360 8: TPP, RCEP, SAARC and Free Trade

* This is my article for the June 2013 issue of the business magazine in Kathmandu, Nepal. The person in the cover is a friend, Robin Sitoula, President of a free market think tank in Kathmandu, Samriddhi Prosperity Foundation.
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TPP, RCEP, SAARC and Free Trade

If people are left alone to buy or sell something, they would wish that they are given full freedom to choose their buyers and sellers. They would not wish some external bodies to tell and prohibit them from trading with certain groups of people or economies.

In the Asia-Pacific area, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) was created in 1989 whose   “primary goal is to support sustainable economic growth and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region….by championing free and open trade and investment, promoting and accelerating regional economic integration, encouraging economic and technical cooperation… ” (APEC Mission Statement)

This is the biggest economic alliance in the entire planet because it includes huge  economies like the US, Japan and China. Then there are certain  political agenda by some member-governments that are not fulfilled, and new groupings were created.

One is the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) formed in 2010, which is an expansion of the four member-countries Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement (TPSEP or P4) formed in 2005.

The other is the Comprehensive Economic Partnership for East Asia (CEPEA), formalized in 2009, and more recently is called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

APEC member-countries (21) that are
TPP members, actual or candidate (12)	Not TPP members (9)
Japan, , Australia, New Zealand, Brunei, Malaysia, Sing., Vietnam * US, Canada, Chile, Mexico, Peru.	China, Hong Kong, Taiwan,  S. Korea; Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, Russia.

* These seven countries are RCEP members also.

The RCEP is composed of 10 member-countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) + 6 countries.  PNG, HK, Taiwan and Russia are the only APEC member countries that do not belong to either TPP or RCEP. 

In South Asia, there is the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

CEPEA/RCEP (16)	SAARC (8)
ASEAN (10) + 6: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam + China, India, Japan, S. Korea,  Australia, New Zealand	Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka + Potential members: China, Myanmar + Other observers: Iran, Japan, Mauritius, S. Korea, Australia, EU, US

SAARC was formed to promote peace, stability, progress and economic cooperation in the region. Among the mechanisms to attain this goal is the establishment of the South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA) where traded goods among member-countries will have zero customs duties by 2016. Another mechanism is the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme for certain groups of people like high government officials, businessmen, media and athletes. These moves are laudable and will definitely have a positive impact in confidence-building and further economic integration among the people of the neighboring countries.

While RCEP was Japan-initiated, there is growing perception that China is rising in leadership. And while TPSEP was New Zealand-initiated, the expanded TPP is now seen as being led by the US.

By creating and expanding the TPP, the US may have weakened APEC as Asia-Pacific countries are now divided between TPP or RCEP members, except for a few that are members of both economic blocs.

For a country like Vietnam, it can use the TPP to counter what is seen as China's weight on its border, and use RCEP for economic trade and diplomacy with China. So Vietnam will be able to walk a balance between the US and China.

People in the ASEAN are looking up at the Asean Free Trade Area (AFTA) of zero duties among member-countries by 2015. This is a common market of around 700 million people or slightly higher than the combined population of the US + EU. RCEP is looking at a semi-FTA among the 16 countries by 2015.

It sounds ironic that state-run economies like China and Vietnam can integrate themselves in a free trade and free market landscape. But they are playing with global capitalism, of a highly globalized trade, tourism and investments by people. So those socialist governments must abide by having zero import tax for certain goods from certain countries.

Some national laws and taxes like a domestic sales tax or value added tax (VAT) can distort a free trade policy. For instance in the Philippines, while most imported goods are levied with zero to three percent import duties, they are slapped with 12 percent VAT and that immediately raises the price of previously cheap imports. Lots of oil smuggling in the country for instance, is done not so much to avoid the one or three percent import duties for oil products, but to avoid the 12 percent VAT.

People from different countries should  consider the policy of unilateral trade liberalization over the long-term. Trade with no political preconditions, no prolonged trade negotiations and disputes. People on average just want value for their money when they buy something. They do not require various conditions and regulations to be put in place before they trade. Only governments do.

A unilateral trade liberalization policy like that in Hong Kong is the best option to sanitize trade from politics and politicians. All goods and services are allowed at zero tariff, except for a few regulated items like guns, bombs, poisonous substances, fake medicines, and disease-tainted meat and crops like during bird flu and related outbreak.

We are far from that ideal though. So we have to live with the reality of continued intervention by governments in trade. And those trade alliances – AFTA and RCEP in East Asia, SAFTA in South Asia, and TPP for US-invited economies in the Pacific – are better than economic nationalism and protectionism. 

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See also:
Business Bureaucracy 7: Penalizing Small Businesses, February 01, 2013 
Business 360 5: Reducing Construction and Electricity Bureaucracies, March 14, 2013 
Business 360 6: Peace and Prosperity in Asia, April 13, 2013 
Business 360 7: Jeju Forum for Peace, May 10, 2013