Cagayan should take advantage of the zero-tariff trade that started with China this year, Jack Enrile who is running for congress in the Cagayan’s first district, said Monday.

“We are at the forefront of this window of opportunity with the full establishment of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA) last January 1,” said Enrile, economic and developlment consultant to his father, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, and the province of Cagayan.

“We have the geographic edge, being in the northernmost point of the country, and thus the nearest to China,” said the young Enrile who is seeking a congressional seat in Cagayan’s 1st District.

“Once fully implemented, the CAFTA will see more than 7,000 zero-tariff commodities traded between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China,” he said. “While it may also flood our markets with Chinese goods, free trade also means the chance for us in Cagayan Valley to sell to the Chinese mainland.”

“Imagine, it’s one of the world’s largest free trade areas,” Enrile said, adding “we are well positioned, having the Cagayan Special Economic Zone, the country’s emerging power house.”
“We have fiber-optic, wireless global connections; cyber industrial parks and business process call centers multimillion-peso resorts and theme parks – all just a short hop from the world-class Port Irene international freight and shipping yard in Aparri and an international airport in Lallo town, with connections to China,” Enrile said.

“For these reasons alone, not to say of our agricultural produce, we can easily tap into the market for 3 billion Chinese consumers, and for that matter other ASEAN economies,” he said.

ASEAN groups the Philippines, Indonesian, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar.

With ASEAN’s population of 584 million and China’s 1.3 billion, the free trade area has one out of three of the world's population with a Gross Domestic Product of about US$ 6 trillion, or a ninth of the world's total GDP.

The ASEAN-China trade volume is estimated at US$ 4.5 trillion, the third largest after the European Union and the North American Free Trade Agreement. Trade has grown in recent years, from US$ 78.2 billion in 2003 US$ 231 billion in 2008.

China is the third largest trade partner of ASEAN which, in turn, is China’s fourth largest trade partner.

Under the CAFTA, the average tariff on goods from the ASEAN countries to China is cut down to 0.1 percent from 9.8 percent. The six original ASEAN members (Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand), will slash the average tariff on Chinese goods from 12.8 percent to 0.6 percent.