Jakarta, 19 April 2018: The Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) is uniquely placed to contribute to a dialogue with parliamentarians that focused on non-tariff measures (NTMs) and barriers as well as good regulatory practice and reducing unnecessary regulatory burdens (RURB) thanks to its various projects and in-depth surveys on the matter, said ERIA President Prof Hidetoshi Nishimura on 19 April 2018.

Prof Nishimura’s statement was part of his opening remarks for the dialogue held in Jakarta by ERIA and the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) entitled ‘Parliamentarians Supporting the ‘Quiet Revolution’ for Better Regulatory Governance’.

‘Whilst [ERIA’s project on reducing unnecessary regulatory burdens] is trying to identify the benefits of reducing regulations, we are also trying to understand the challenges of instituting such practices. To promote these changes, the strong will of politicians and parliamentarians is needed. This is why ERIA is happy to work with AIPA – and [parliamentarians] – to strengthen the ASEAN Economic Community through insights on improving and repealing laws and regulations that are burdensome on business, and creating mechanisms to ensure quality new regulation,’ said Prof Nishimura.

ASEAN Secretary-General Dato Paduka Lim Jock Hoi reiterated Prof Nishimura’s statement on the need for parliamentarians to play an active role in improving regulatory coherence. Furthermore, he said that the Dialogue was a critical step in strengthening regulatory governance for a more rules-based, people-centred ASEAN.

Meanwhile, Hon Isra Suthornvut, the Secretary-General of AIPA called on the people of ASEAN to embrace the ASEAN Community. ‘ASEAN does matter in your lives, ASEAN is a community and it does matter. You cannot run away from your people,’ he said.

In the following sessions, several experts from ERIA and other organisations shared their findings and perspectives regarding NTMs and RURB. ERIA has conducted several studies on NTMs, one of which resulted in the creation of an ASEAN NTM database in cooperation with United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

The event continued the next day with a closed-door discussion on what parliamentarians can do to create a pro-business regulatory environment. After the dialogue, the parliamentarians were taken on an ERIA office tour guided by Prof Nishimura, in which they also visited the newly opened ERIA Information Centre.

This dialogue is the first activity held under that MoU between ERIA and AIPA signed in December 2016. The MoU stipulates the cooperation between AIPA and ERIA in terms of research, capacity building programmes, as well as exchange of information regarding research outcomes and policy recommendations for economic related matters.

Tweets from the Event