​KUALA LUMPUR (April 27): Opening up the skies within the region will help pave way for an efficient e-commerce delivery and further facilitate business activities, said a local think tank.

Open skies is a policy concept that calls for the freedom available for movement of persons and cargo by air within or across countries.

The region's major aviation policy — the ASEAN Single Aviation Market (ASAM) — was proposed by the ASEAN Air Transport Working Group (ATWG) during the 13th ASEAN Summit in November 2007. ASAM has been fully ratified by member states in April 2016, but implementation of actual freedom remains slow.

"Pushing the ASEAN integration is important, because the air transport segment is so important when we talk of e-commerce. There are a lot of new things going on, so eventually it is one thing we must look at as it completes the logistics chain for e-commerce," said IDEAS chairman Tan Sri Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria on the sidelines of a roundtable discussion conducted at the ASEAN level.

Sta Maria said another important aspect of the ASEAN Open Skies agreement, besides tourism, is that it facilitates other aspects of doing business in the region.

She expressed that business travelling could be made seamless, for example with an ASEAN visa, which could help business people get from one country to another fuss-free.

"At some point, we have to link in to this concept that is the seamless movements of these business people. Because they are the ones who, at the end of the day, contribute to the economy in a very specific sense," she added.

According to latest statistics from the Department of Statistics Malaysia, the share of e-commerce in the national gross domestic product has increased to 6.1% in 2016, from 5.9% in 2015. International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed had previously said Malaysia's e-commerce market is expected to exceed the 11% growth projection by 2020.

As for the region, it was reported earlier this year that Credit Suisse is forecasting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32% increase in Asean e-commerce spending, rising to almost US$90 billion by 2025.

Sta Maria said member states are also working towards reaching a common ground, as there are some countries that need to be assisted.

"We need to get the other countries to accelerate, even if we have big initiatives. We have to support and put some resources into capacity building for the less-developed Asean states, so we can [all] grow faster," said Sta Maria.

IDEAS economic and business unit's coordinator Adli Amirullah shared that ownership issues remain the main hindrance to the progress of ASAM.

In seven out of the ten Asean member states — such as Indonesia, Singapore, Cambodia and even Malaysia — a traditional "substantial ownership and effective control" model remains the default option.

This means nationals must typically own more than 50% of the airline's shares, and that the actual control of the airline must reside with its own nationals.

Sta Maria also stressed that Malaysia should take advantage while chairing the ATWG.

"For us, the reason we are putting some effort this year is because Malaysia is chairing the ATWG and we thought that this is an opportunity for Malaysia to show its leadership in this area.

"We've got two years and it's really an opportunity for us, to see how we (Malaysia) can — while moving forward the Asean agenda — benefit from this, and assess its role as a leader in this area," she added.

https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/seamless-asean-skies-could-complete-ecommerce-logistics-chain-%E2%80%94-ideas