impact of policy uncertainties from the global market, but also achieve and maintain our external competitiveness. here at home, greater collaboration and cooperation among ourselves – private businesses, firms and government agencies – will reinforce our competitive position. as you know, the bsp actively engages exporters through the regular conduct of the conference on gearing up for external competitiveness ( cguec ) and the annual exporters ’ forum. we also conduct consultative one - on - one meetings. these serve as venues for discussing prospects, as well as plans and initiatives for the sector. in fact, we held one conference here in cebu last may 2017. this was followed by a series of consultation meetings with some of cebu ’ s top exporters of furniture, processed fruits, and garments in june 2017. 2 we hope to continue this active partnership with you. on behalf of the monetary board and the bsp, i congratulate philexport for its 25 years of helping exporters succeed in international trade, and taking the lead in building strong alliances among export - related industries, government agencies, and non - governmental organizations. daghang salamat at mabuhay tayong lahat! 1 quoted actual exports numbers are latest available from the philippine statistics authority. 2 note : the cebu - based firms / associations consulted by the bsp in june 2017 were the cebu furniture industries foundation, inc., 7d foods international, and metro wear, inc. 4 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches

the establishment of the asean economic community or aec in 2015, we are now at that phase of formally consolidating the 10 asean markets into a single economic base. to achieve this, it is necessary that we have an integrated and well - functioning regional financial system. this is defined under the asean financial integration framework or afif. within the afif is the integration of the banking markets. this is what we refer to as abif and it is being pursued alongside the integration of the other facets of the financial market such as the payments and settlement system, the capital market, and the insurance sector. a proper response to your chosen topic of what asean integration means to asian and philippine banking must therefore take a holistic view that considers abif in the context of afif, which in turn is an essential element of the aec, which itself is only 1 of the 3 “ communities ”. there are many moving parts in asean integration but it is clear that the envisioned upside is premised on economies of scale and scope. latest statistics from the asean secretariat tell us 1 / 4 bis central bankers'speeches that asean represents usd2. 4 trillion in combined gdp, making it among the 10 biggest economies in the world. over the past decade and a half, asean was the 3rd fastest growing economy in the world, behind only china and india. asean has a population base of 629 million, 35 % of whom are below 20 years old. total trade volumes reached a high of usd2. 53 trillion in 2014 and fdi inflows, usd120. 8 billion in 2015. 1 clearly, these are not small numbers ; but they are relevant only if we see asean as an integrated market. taking full advantage of this aggregate size and collective economic strength is precisely the point of integration so that there is freer movement of goods and services as well as of labor and capital. in asean ’ s vision, this will allow for the unbundling of distribution from production, so that one can produce in the jurisdictions which have the comparative advantage for the product and have the product sold in other jurisdictions where there is greatest demand. the freer movement of capital is not only for production, it also holds true for the regional financial market. when compared with other regional blocs or other countries in the world, asean is well - documented to have a higher saving rate relative to gdp. cross - border portfolio flows data confirm, however, that asean minimally invests into asean.