Plan for Asean gifts industrial federation to boost design

A memorandum of understanding between the three initiative countries – Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand – was inked in 2010 and Indonesia has also entered the alliance, with the federation expected to be set up this year.
The hope is that six countries in total will ensure the use of the Asean symbol as the federation logo.
The plan has been drawn up not only with a view to targeting the 580 million people in the region, but also to strengthen Asean manufacturing through exports beyond Southeast Asia.
In addition, successful implementation of the plan will give the region more bargaining power in the gifts industry and enhance its development into a design and trading centre.
Jirabool Vittayasing, secretary-general of the Thai Lifestyle Products Federation, said the plan should also reduce the level of gift imports.
Malaysia and Singapore currently import many gift items from China, but Vietnam and Thailand have a great opportunity to establish themselves as manufacturing and design centres in the region, he said.
“Having intra-regional manufacturing of design products will encourage members such as Singapore and Malaysia to focus more on trading, Vietnam and Thailand on manufacturing and design, while Indonesia will be a supply base for raw materials. It will allow countries to focus on their strengths,” he added.
It is also planned to negotiate cooperation with the US-based Promotion Products Association International (PPAI) and Europe’s Promotional Services Institution (PSI), whose manufacturers and design companies from upstream through downstream collaborate to share information and joint development.
An alliance with these two influential associations will enable Asean to learn more about technology and engage in knowledge transfer, he said, adding that the model that the PPAI and PSI use to bargain with China would be applied for Asean trading.
With the Asean-China Free Trade Agreement eliminating import tariffs between participating countries on gifts, the region should put up some barriers to ensure high-quality products are available, he suggested.
Jirabool said the most important target in establishing the federation is to promote the Asean product image by ensuring country-of-origin requirements within the region under a CO-Asean logo.
“Successful [implementation] of the federation will allow the region to move forward on product design development through knowledge, technology transfer and linkage with those influential international associations [PPAI and PSI],” he said.
The federation will also encourage members to focus on their strengths. For example, with Thai products classified for gifts and premiums as well as for corporate premiums, while Singapore and Malaysia will enhance their expertise on gifts for corporate premiums.
Jirabool has also proposed setting up a Gift Producers Industry Club under the Federation of Thai Industries in order to emphasise a clear stance on manufacturing and product development of gifts.