Services Trade Liberalization and Labor Migration Policies in ASEAN
How can the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) community best consolidate and harmonize
commitments to services trade liberalization and labor
migration policies to meet regional economic
integration goals, including the establishment of an
ASEAN Economic Community, by 2015? What are
the opportunities, challenges, and ways forward?
ADBI, the International Organization for
Migration, and Chulalongkorn University sponsored
the Sub-regional Conference on Services Trade
Liberalization and Labor Migration Policies:
Towards ASEAN Economic Community in
Bangkok from 23-26 September, where more than
30 government officials, ASEAN Secretariat
representatives, experts, and academics gathered
with the aim to address such questions.
Presentations provided an overview of the
interconnection between trade in services and the
movement of people in the ASEAN community,
highlighting provisions for migration in the World
Trade Organization's General Agreements on
Trade in Services. Participants discussed ASEAN
mechanisms towards free trade in services and related
migration issues. Attention was dedicated to ASEAN
opportunities and challenges related to services trade
liberalization and labor migration policies, including,
among many other issues, qualifications recognition
and the impacts of brain drain and gain on economic
development.
 In October, not long after
his participation in this
conference in Bangkok,
Toru Tatara retired after
two decades with ADB
and ADBI. He gave this
statement on his
experience: “In my
20 years at ADB and
ADBI, I dealt with current
development issues in
Asia such as corporate
social responsibility, labor
migration management, appraisal methods of cross-border
infrastructure projects, and managing regional public goods.
Now, I will continue with these efforts in the Japanese
academic community. Thank you to my colleagues and our
valued clients—developing member country
policymakers—over the years for your valuable support;
I hope to see you again somewhere in Asia.”
View more on this conference.
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