The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had made a
giant leap toward completing the economic integration process by
resetting the deadline five years ahead of the previous schedule,
ASEAN Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong said in a recent
interview.
The ASEAN had two very important reasons for bringing forward
the dateline of the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community
from 2020 to 2015, Ong told Xinhua.
"We believe that by 2014 many of the FTA (free trade area)
negotiations with other countries like China, Japan, South Korea,
Australia and New Zealand will be completed," he said. "It means
that ASEAN markets have already committed (themselves) to certain
sets of requirements for the FTA. Why do we have to wait until 2020
if we can finish all these FTAs by 2014 or 2015."
Ong said the second reason for ASEAN to shorten its economic
integration schedule was to "encourage ASEAN countries to be more
active in doing internal changes."
"2020 is far away, people can still wait and take the time and
then you don't get a lot of good results and then the negotiations
for FTAs with other countries will also suffer a delay. We moved
the date from 2020 to 2015 and now everybody in ASEAN knows they
cannot delay anymore," said Ong, who has been leading the 10-member
bloc since January 2003.
He said the rescheduling had received favorable responses from
businesses in the region.
The goal is to establish ASEAN as a single market and production
base so that it can become a more dynamic and stronger segment of
the global supply chain.
However, concern remains over the less-developed countries in
the region in terms of catching up with their wealthier
neighbors.
"We have some countries that are developed, some countries not
so developed. This is true that we have a gap, and the gap is quite
big. The important thing today is to improve the transportation in
all the countries, to improve the infrastructure," said Ong.
Apart from the need for an improvement of the infrastructures in
the member countries, Ong pointed out that some economies that used
to be centralized needed "a lot of officials who understand how to
upgrade the system in the open market," adding that the ASEAN had
been offering the appropriate training.
With the regional economic integration process now at top speed,
Ong dismissed suggestions that the ASEAN was walking on the same
path as the European Union (EU).
"The EU has a common currency, they also have free movement of
people. We don't think Southeast Asian countries are ready to do
that," he said.
"What we are seeing (in ASEAN) is more the movement of
professional people, skilled people. We cannot be like the EU which
(allows) free movement of people," he said. "Many of our countries
are still relatively insecure, and if you have complete free
movement of people, you can see thousands more coming into a small
country or thousands more going where the market is good, The local
population may not be ready to welcome this competition from
another guy next door."
(Xinhua News Agency October 23, 2006)
