Mega urges ASEAN to accelerate integration
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Zakki P. Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
President Megawati Soekarnoputri urged ASEAN economic ministers gathering here for a key annual meeting to formulate ways of accelerating the integration of the region's economies.
"The entire Asia-Pacific region, and nearly the whole world, are watching us. Let us not allow economic development to grow into sharper differences and hinder integration and growth.
"Let us work together and seek ways to encourage regional trade and accelerate economic integration," Megawati said in a speech delivered on Friday at the opening of the 36th ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) meeting here.
The leader of Southeast Asia's largest economy said that the selection of 11 economic sectors -- in which ASEAN holds a comparative advantage -- should be made a priority for liberalization to accelerate the process of integration.
But the regional grouping must also have a wide-ranging strategy that includes human resources development, standardization of the quality of education, closer consultation in macroeconomics and financial policy and the enhancement of infrastructure/telecommunications, she said.
"We must also continue to strengthen the mechanisms to handle trade disputes, accelerate the harmonization and standardization of trade facilities and investment procedures," she added.
Economic and trade ministers of the member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian (ASEAN) nations gathered for a three-day meeting to discuss new measures to boost intra-regional trade, investment and economic integration.
The ministers will also hold talks with their counterparts from the region's main trading partners such as Japan, China, South Korea, India, the European Union, Australia and New Zealand to discuss the prospect of setting up free trade agreements.
The non-ASEAN dignitaries included Australian Minister for Trade Mark Vaile, Korean Minister of Trade Kim Hyun-chong, Minister for Trade Negotiation Jim Sutton of New Zealand, EU Commissioner for Trade Pascal Lamy, India's Minister of Commerce and Industry Kamal Nath, Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Shoichi Nakagawa of Japan and China's Minister of Commerce Bo Xilai.
During a summit in Bali last year, ASEAN leaders agreed to integrate their economies in a bid to create the so-called ASEAN economic community by 2020, where the region of over 500 million people becomes a single market with a single production basis, characterized by freer flows of goods and services, and by freer flows of investment and movement of skilled labor.
In short, the ASEAN region is projected to turn into an integrated economy like the European Union.
It is expected that such an open economy would make the region more competitive for global foreign direct investment (FDI), particularly in a bid to win contracts over China and India.
Although there had been initial doubts over the prospect of integrating the region's economies, partly due to different stages of development among the economies, ASEAN has planned to accelerate the liberalization of trade and investment activities in 11 priority economic sectors ranging from agriculture to automotive sectors by 2007 for the six founding members of the grouping.
Ministers at the AEM meeting will discuss measures to achieve this target, which include significant reductions in import tariffs, simplifying customs procedures and adopting shared product standards.
ASEAN groups Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.