SE Asia on track for single community
Progress report gives boost as deadline for integration looms
A joint assessment of the scorecards evaluating the progress of each Asean member toward the creation of a single economic community shows that all countries are on track with their commitments, a minister has said.
“Every country has achieved the requirements or is on target to achieve them. In various aspects, such as connectivity, trade in goods and services, we are ready,” said Indonesian Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan after the seventh Asean Economic Community Council Meeting in Phnom Penh, on Monday.
Gita cited several achievements, which have been made recently, including the signing of a customs agreement by the region’s finance ministers in March and another agreement on a single aviation market made between transportation ministries.
Four pillars
As envisioned by the AEC 2015 Blueprint, the community will be supported by four pillars: a single market and production base, a highly competitive economic region, a region with equitable economic development and a region fully integrated into the global economy.
The establishment of the community will be a continuation of earlier efforts made through the Asean Free Trade Area (AFTA) started in 1992.
Through the free trade pact, 99.11 per cent of tariffs in Asean-6 (Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand) have already been lifted since 2010, while 98.86 per cent tariffs of Asean-4 (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) have been reduced to between 0 and 5 per cent.
Tougher challenges ahead
Despite this progress, Gita said, Asean countries might face tougher challenges ahead in implementing the ninth and 10th packages of the Asean Framework Agreement on Services (AFAS).
“Package 9 will be challenging and Package 10 will even be more so, but we’ll try to address issues pertaining to them,” he said.
In the meeting, Asean trade ministers agreed to make special efforts to fulfil the integration of services by using available measures to protect sensitive sub-sectors.
Asean sealed its integration commitment in the services sector through the AFAS signed by Asean economic ministers on December 15, 1995, in Bangkok.
It aims to boost cooperation in services among the Asean member states to improve efficiency and competitiveness, enlarge production capacity and the supply and distribution of services as well as improving market access.
Gita said that apart from these issues, Asean members would also work on equitable development toward the establishment of the AEC through financial inclusion and diversification of export markets to nontraditional markets, such as the Middle East, South American and African countries.
