Asean Economic Community a work in progress

The challenge of this association of nations, marked by diversity, can be seen in the words of Najib while inaugurating the summit the day before, when he asked: How do we make the ASEAN something that touches the daily lives of our people, how do we make our citizens feel, directly, that the chances of the Community we will establish are their own?

Simultaneously, the leaders endorsed “ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead Together”, which charts the path for community building over the next 10 years.

“The Asean Community is a landmark achievement on the way to reaching those goals”, he said.

The Asean community includes such diverse countries of vastly differing political, security and socio-cultural dimensions and governments ranging from communist Vietnam, quasi-military Myanmar to the kingdom of Brunei and the overactive democracy of the Philippines.

In the declaration, the leaders hailed the ASEAN Community 2015 as a “milestone” in integration process and will ensure “lasting peace, security and resilience in an outward-looking region”.

Several years ago ASEAN set a 2015 target for launching the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), a single market with a free flow of goods, capital and skilled labor across borders.

They also pledged continued commitment to the on-going process of ASEAN community building, including an ASEAN Community’s post-2015 vision, guided by the purposes and principles of the ASEAN Charter.

But significant non-tariff and other barriers remain in a region marked by extremes in development levels, democratization, and institutional capability.

“The upgrading of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) aims to streamline and enhance economic cooperation, in line with the changes in the trade and economic landscape between ASEAN and China”, Malaysia’s Ministry of global Trade and Industry (MITI) said in a statement.

The historic partnership accord was signed by the 10 ASEAN leaders and US President Barack Obama during a dialogue last Saturday in a bid to deepen relations in priority areas and mutual concerns such as maritime security.

The ASEAN and United States likewise called on concerned parties in the South China Sea issue to exercise restraint and avoid the use of force in dealing with the territorial conflict. How the proposal could help China and ASEAN to seek common ground, and eye on the development of the region? This means that the Asean Secretariat General in Jakarta will have to be strengthened and be vested with a stronger mandate to investigate internal markets and identify non-tariff barriers.

ASEAN can be proud that it has been able to maintain great ambitions for all these three pillars, PM Najib told the summit. “As our rapidly transforming region navigates its way through uncertain times to a peaceful and prosperous future, we look forward to Asean leading the way in defining the regional architecture”, he said.

“We also have to work within our societies and with our youth”.