EDITORIAL - A global Asean

Eclipsed by maritime disputes, regional economic integration is nevertheless a priority agenda at the ongoing 30th summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The ASEAN Economic Community or AEC was set up in 2015 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with the aim of creating by 2025 a region that is highly cohesive, dynamic, inclusive, competitive and fully integrated into the global economy.

The goal is ambitious, especially in a region where states have widely divergent levels of economic development and institutional capacities for regional integration. Yet ASEAN has forged ahead, inspired by the idea that there is strength in unity. With a population of nearly 650 million, Southeast Asia offers a market estimated at $2.6 trillion, making it collectively the third largest economy in Asia and the seventh in the world. That provides enormous leverage in trade negotiations and other matters.

Europe is showing how complex regional integration can be, but ASEAN is gingerly pushing ahead. Some member states have done their homework better, preparing for the AEC even before it was formally established. Others, like the Philippines, need greater awareness of the challenges and vast potentials offered by being part of a regional market.

The AEC paves the way for the free flow not only of goods and funds but also of skills. While AEC members now have better access to each other’s markets, integration also calls for improvements in the competitiveness of industries and the workforce, better infrastructure and connectivity as well as efficient regulation and the rule of law. Much of the agricultural sector will still enjoy protection, but the Philippines must accelerate efforts to make the country more competitive in an area where several of its ASEAN neighbors have become world leaders.

Regional integration opens more opportunities for ASEAN members to take advantage of a globalized economy in creating jobs and easing poverty. The summit should give the Philippines an idea of what the neighbors are doing to achieve regional integration and turn the grouping into a global ASEAN.