ASEAN urged to speed up single-market formation

ASEAN urged to speed up single-market formation

Zakki P. Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia joined Singapore and Thailand calling for the
Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to accelerate
full regional economic integration earlier than 2020, a senior
official said.

Minister of Trade Mari Elka Pangestu said here on Wednesday
ASEAN should eventually come up with an earlier deadline in
establishing a European Union-style single market, adding that
2020 was too far away.

"We should do it before the Bogor Goals," Mari said, referring
to the goals set out at the 1994 APEC summit in Bogor, West Java,
where members pledged to set up a free trade zone for the Asia-
Pacific region.

The Bogor goals set a deadline of 2010 for developed countries
and 2020 for developing countries to implement the free trade
system.

She pointed out that an ASEAN single market would be
meaningless if it was established at the same time as an Asia-
Pacific free trade area.

"The purpose of having an ASEAN Economic Community is to
provide preferential reduction or liberalization (to ASEAN
members) ahead of non-ASEAN countries," said Mari, who has just
returned from 12th APEC Summit in Chilean capital of Santiago.

She acknowledged that less-developed ASEAN nations would be
more reluctant to see the establishment of an ASEAN single market
being accelerated, but those countries could be given a later
schedule to participate.

According to reports, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong
and Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra were the main
proponents for the accelerated deadline.

ASEAN senior officials kicked off talks in the Laotian capital
of Vientiane on Wednesday, which will be followed by a gathering
of their foreign ministers on Saturday and a two-day leaders'
summit on Monday.

The ASEAN leaders will be joined at their summit by their
counterparts from China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and
New Zealand, as the regional grouping seeks closer trade ties
with economic powerhouses in Asia Pacific.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Under the Bali Concord II, agreed upon at a summit last year
in Bali, the Southeast Asian bloc pledged to establish the ASEAN
Economic Community, where there would be a freer flow of goods,
services, investment and freer flow of capital, equitable
economic development and reduced poverty and socio-economic
disparities by 2020.

At that time, the leaders pledged to streamline customs
procedures and to adopt shared product standards. To make the
task more manageable, they decided to press ahead in 11 "priority
sectors", from fisheries to aviation.

They also agreed to set up a monitoring group, to check
whether members were living up to their commitments, and a
dispute-settlement procedure; measures taken to "remind" member
countries that the ASEAN Free Trade Area is a binding agreement.