ASEAN Competitiveness Enhancement Program (2008-2013)

Under the ASEAN Competitiveness Enhancement Project (ACE), Nathan Associates is helping to develop intraregional trade among ASEAN’s ten member states by enhancing the competitiveness and integration of supply chains in two sectors: textiles/apparel and tourism. Both sectors are important to many member states, including the developing economies of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.

Working with the ASEAN Federation of Textile Industries, the ASEAN Tourism Association, the ASEAN Secretariat, and other stakeholders, the project has been (1) identifying and taking steps to remove constraints in the business environment, and (2) developing and sharing information that will help the private sector take advantage of opportunities for trade and growth. For textiles and apparel, ACE is

• Promoting ASEAN’s image as a full-package source of quality textiles and apparel;
• Facilitating partnerships between mills and garment factories to create cross-border virtual vertical factories offering full services to global buyers; and
• Fostering intra-ASEAN trade in textiles and apparel through SourceASEAN.com (http://www.sourceasean.com/) a business-to-business networking site.

In the tourism sector, ACE is

• Branding and marketing Southeast Asia and facilitating multi-destination bookings on SoutheastAsia.org; and
• Raising the competitiveness of tourism supply chains at the regional level and throughout the Greater Mekong region by developing and disseminating market and business information.

ACE is a project under the ADVANCE program. To learn more about ACE, visit the project website (http://advanceiqc.com/category/advance/ace) or contact:

Chief of Party, Rick Gurley
Email

Project Director. Matthew Lutkenhouse
Email