Debated in Parliament on 9 Jul 2014.
The following question stood in the name of Mr R Dhinakaran –
To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry what is the key progress achieved by ASEAN member countries towards the ASEAN Economic Community at the recent ASEAN Summit.
Question No 5, please.
Mdm Speaker, ASEAN member states have made steady progress in building the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2015. We are strengthening customs and cross-border cooperation, enhancing trade facilitation initiatives, as well as eliminating tariff and addressing some non-tariff measures to facilitate and increase trade in goods. We are also working hard to complete the ninth package of commitments under the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services, which will reduce services barriers, including the lowering of foreign equity limits. On investment, there are on-going activities aimed at improving ASEAN's investment regimes and promoting ASEAN as a single investment destination.
At the 24th ASEAN Summit held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, from 10 to 11 May this year, ASEAN Leaders reviewed the efforts made by ASEAN member states and reaffirmed their commitment to intensify efforts to implement the remaining action plans, in order to establish a single market and production base.
ASEAN member states are also working to develop the AEC's post-2015 agenda. This is because economic integration is a journey, and the region needs to continue to follow the course on which it has embarked, even after 2015. ASEAN member states recognise that integration is the only way forward if ASEAN wants to compete successfully in an increasingly globalised world.
Mdm Speaker, one clarification for the Senior Minister of State. It is accepted that the targets that are to be met by end of 2015, would largely be 70% to 80%. I think that is a conventional wisdom of what would be achieved by the deadline of end of next year. Is there any projection as to when the remaining 30%, 20%,
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is likely to be achieved, post-2015?
Well, that is why the post-AEC 2015 agenda is important. I think the ASEAN member states and the officials are working hard to try to define the next steps, and some of the deliverables that we can achieve in the next two to three years. ASEAN being a consensus-building body and also recognising that there are different developmental stages among the 10 member countries, it takes time to come to consensus and agreement that can be accepted by member countries. So, on the whole, while ASEAN AEC blueprint is not perfect, I think we are headed in the right direction.
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