The target to establish an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015 is
hard to be met as negotiations have progressed to a more difficulty,
according a recent report release by the Asia Development Bank (ADB).
The
report said progress has slowed since negotiations on reforms are
facing difficulties, especially in eliminating nontariff barriers,
liberalising service trade, improving the business climate and
competition policy, strengthening the protection of intellectual
property rights, and narrowing development gaps.
To realise the
goal, ASEAN member nations must carry out reforms such as removing trade
barriers, promoting goods exchange within the bloc and creating a
harmonisation between standards and regulations along with enhancing
links among nations.
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, and Thailand in particular can claim noteworthy
achievements in tariff reduction, trade facilitation, and investment
liberalisation, while the newer members – Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar,
and Vietnam — are lagging behind, the report said.
ASEAN
member nations achieved only 76.5 percent of its planned AEC targets by
March 2013, and this shows that the pace of reforms seems to have
slowed rather than accelerated.
The AEC, a single market
with a GDP of 2.2 trillion USD and a population of 620 million, is hoped
to promote the flow of goods, services, investments and skilled labour
among its 10 member countries.
ASEAN groups Brunei,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.-VNA