'Asean can learn from EU on economy'
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Asean can emulate some of the European Union's experiences in bridging the economic gap among member countries.
“As Asean is shifting its focus towards equitable economic development in its post-2015 agenda, the EU’s experience in bridging the economic gap between West and East Europe will be an area that Asean may wish to adopt, learning from the success of the EU model,” foreign minister Anifah Aman said.
He said that while Asean’s economic integration process differs from the EU, there were some lessons which could be learned.
Anifah was responding to concerns on whether the newer Asean members – Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam – could keep up with the rest of the region in terms of economic growth in the years ahead.
“While there are positive signs that the development gap between Asean-6 and the newer members are converging, the rate remains slow. To further deepen integration, Asean welcomes the sharing of best practices from the EU,” he said in an e-mail interview with The Star.
In this regard, one of the areas that Asean has already emulated the EU was the setting up of a scorecard to monitor and track the progress of various initiatives to create a single market in the region.
The foreign minister said while there was no guarantee that EU’s structure could work for Asean due to cultural, political and different level of economic development, there were nevertheless, some examples that could be applicable to the region.
He cited several differences, including the fact that Asean countries have their individual currencies while the EU has converted to using a single currency.
In terms of trade policy, the member states maintain their individual policy while EU adopts a single trade policy with its trade partners.
The EU practised free movement of labour and capital, unlike the regulated approach taken by Asean, Anifah added.
“Given the different levels of economic development in the region, Asean will need to adopt a more pragmatic and realistic form of economic integration, which is one that is ambitious but also takes into account the needs of the business community,” he said.
Asean, with a total population of 620 million and a combined Gross Domestic Product of more than US$3 trillion is the world’s seventh largest economy.
