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                            ASEAN Economic Community

   by Steve Herman

   Leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
   Sunday signed a declaration establishing a formal economic, political,
   security and socio-cultural community.
   "Our ASEAN way has guided us and will continue to be our compass as we
   seek to realize a politically cohesive, economically integrated,
   socially responsible and a truly people-oriented, people-centered
   rules-based ASEAN," said summit host, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib
   Razak, at the signing ceremony, which was witnessed by U.N. Secretary
   General Ban Ki-moon.
   Najib hailed the establishment of the ASEAN Community "as a landmark
   achievement" more than a dozen years after the concept was first
   proposed.
   Many tariff barriers have already been eliminated among ASEAN states
   although many politically sensitive sectors remain protected, such as
   agriculture, auto production and steel.
   "Now we have to assure freer movements and removal of barriers that
   hinder growth and investment," Najib added.
   But analysts say much work remains for the most important pillar of the
   ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) to achieve its primary goal of allowing
   freer movement of skilled workers, trade and capital for the region's
   more than 600 million people - more populous than North America or the
   European Union.
   Integrating ASEAN economies, intended to help the region compete with
   giants China and India, would create the world's seventh-largest single
   market.
   Some in the region, however, predict implementation of the AEC will
   excessively benefit corporate interests, not the majority of the
   region's population.
   "As ASEAN moves towards regional economic integration, unequal and
   unsustainable economic growth will result in worsening poverty,
   inequalities of wealth, resources, power and opportunities between
   countries, between the rich and the poor and between men and women,"
   warned the ASEAN Civil Society Conference and ASEAN Peoples' Forum in a
   joint statement.
   The AEC is set to become fully functional December 31.
   Compared to the European Union, the AEC is culturally and politically
   more diverse with various systems of government including communism
   (Laos and Vietnam), a military junta (Thailand), authoritarian
   (Cambodia), quasi-civilian (Myanmar) and a monarchy (Brunei).

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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/asean-economic-community/3068707.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/asean-economic-community/3068707.html