The ASEAN Economic Community: The Force Awakens?

[webfact]

The ASEAN Economic Community: The Force Awakens?
By Elodie Sellier

The AEC is here, but can it deliver on its promise?

TOKYO: -- The agreement on the creation of an ASEAN Economic Community signed on November 22 in Kuala Lumpur by the leading nations of Southeast Asia finally entered into force with much fanfare on December 31, heralding the “awakening” of what could be defined as a new Asian power bloc.

Almost echoing the European Union’s Common Market of the 1950s, ASEAN seeks to allow for the free movement of goods, services and skilled labor, a major departure from what has been considered since the earliest days of its existence as a political project for peaceful regional integration.

For outsiders, the AEC is the culmination of the massive integrationist leaps made by ASEAN since the early 2000s, suggesting new momentum in the integration process of this gigantic market of 600 million people. But size matters not, and from a pragmatic perspective, the entry into force of the AEC is reminiscent of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing: Given ASEAN’s extremely weak institutional base, reliant on a skeleton secretariat of no more than 400 staff sustained by an annual budget of barely $17 million, there is much uncertainty as to whether ASEAN can deliver on its ambitious targets.

With the AEC, the 48-year-old ASEAN finds itself at a critical juncture, yet sobriety should drive any analysis. The reasons for skepticism center on two questions. First, can ASEAN effectively pursue coherent economic integration on the sole basis of voluntary commitments – especially given the extreme diversity of the region? Second, if so, which objectives it should pursue next to build on the AEC?

Full story: http://thediplomat.com/2016/01/the-asean-economic-community-the-force-awakens/

-- THE DIPLOMAT 2016-01-14

[alant]

Quote "ASEAN seeks to allow for the free movement of goods, services and skilled labor,"

​Its the seeks bit that is the key I feel, as yet it looks rather like they have yet to find it.

[clockman]

It will never happen?

[Krataiboy]

The Farce Awakens.

[wabothai]

"Almost echoing the European union" , almost an insult.

[thaiturkey]

SOME BENEFIT ALREADY!

i have just purchased a case of canned Singha in a Malaysian store for M$90. At current exchange rates that's a little more than 30 Bht/ can.

Very wellcome, because booze is very expensive here. Chai Yo !

[NCC1701A]

"Against this mixed backdrop, the ASEAN Civil Society Conference and ASEAN Peoples’ Forum recently warned of the dangers of “unequal and unsustainable economic growth,” which may lead to the negative externalities of “worsening poverty, inequalities of wealth, resources, power and opportunities between countries, between the rich and the poor and between men and women.”

so Thailand should fit right in. ready to go.

[bangon04]

Thailand has geared up with the slogans, lip service, regular cartoons and flag-waving TV spots. Even in the skytrain every five minutes, with that annoying tune and cartoon.

However " the entry into force of the AEC is reminiscent of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing:" seems appropriate in the Thai context.

Ask the man in the street.....

On a long term note - I do hope the AEC, when it does get going, resists the urge to become a Greater Asian Union" and sticks with the economics....

[trainman34014]

Most Thai's at street level know as much about Asean as they know about space travel !