Joining the ASEAN club

Joining the ASEAN club

Tuesday night's announcement in Laos that Australia, New
Zealand and the ASEAN nations would begin negotiations on a free
trade deal was historic, but widely anticipated.

The late-breaking news that we will also be invited back to
next year's ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur -- following a 27-year
hiatus between our previous invitation and the present one -- was
icing on the cake.

Tuesday's breakthroughs have been driven, not by symbols, but
by the synergies between the developed economies of Australia and
New Zealand and those of Southeast Asia. A comprehensive trade
deal will give Australian businesses access to a market of more
than 500 million people and a combined annual economy of $720
billion.

Add China to the mix and the numbers become 1.7 billion people
producing more than $2.5 trillion worth of goods and services.
But while economic interest is the main driver in the bilateral
and regional FTAs currently springing up around the world, it is
never enough. The ASEAN thaw shows that, despite occasional
gaffes over pre-emption, we are well regarded in the
neighborhood and our closeness to the US is a plus, not a minus.
It also demonstrates that Malaysia, from having been the main
obstacle to our closer integration with ASEAN under Mahathir
Mohamad, has become the facilitator under Abdullah Badawi. Now
there's a powerful piece of symbolism.
-- The Australian, Sydney