Regional integration continues to move forward in Asia: report

BOAO, Hainan, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Regional economic integration continues to move forward in Asia, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA), which will convene its 2024 conference in Boao, a resort town in Hainan Province, south China.

The forum's Asian Economic Outlook and Integration Progress Annual Report 2024 states that global dependence on Asian trade in goods stayed stable, and the trade dependence between Asian economies remained at a high level in 2022. Both China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) continued to enjoy their status as regional hubs for trade in goods.

Due to the rise of trade protectionism worldwide, the dependence of global value chain products on Asia experienced a drop in 2022. "Trade dependence over China, Japan and Republic of Korea declined from 2021, but the figure in China's case was still higher than that in 2019 before the pandemic, pointing to resilience and competitive edge of Chinese factories," said the report.

In 2022, Asia reported a surplus of trade in services for the first time, reflecting optimized mix of trade in services and enhanced capacity of service exports in Asia, according to the report.

Asian economies have received an increasing number of inbound tourists over the past two years. In 2022, Laos, Malaysia and Singapore ranked top three in terms of year-on-year growth of inbound arrivals in Asia and the Pacific, and in 2023, international arrivals in Asia and the Pacific increased by 155 percent.

In 2022, Asian economies also demonstrated strong resilience in investment activities. The foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into Asia-Pacific economies amounted to 809.4 billion U.S. dollars, growing by 6.76 percent over the previous year and accounting for 62 percent of international FDI inflows, according to the report.

In 2022, Asian economies allocated 18 percent of their total portfolio investment assets within Asia. Japan maintained its position with the highest stock of portfolio investment among Asian economies, and China's stock of portfolio investment surpassed 1 trillion U.S. dollars for the first time, said the report.

With a founding purpose to promote economic integration in Asia, the mission of the BFA, is to pool positive energy for the development of Asia and the world. The BFA annual conference 2024 will take place from March 26 to 29.