ASEAN blueprint for economic community completed, ready for Nov summit signing

ASEAN blueprint for economic community completed, ready for Nov summit signing

	Published : Fri, 24 Aug 2007 12:58 By : Agencies Print this Story

MANILA (Thomson Financial) - The blueprint for an integrated Southeast Asian economic community has been completed and must be implemented swiftly if if the 2015 deadline is to be met, ASEAN economic officials were told Friday.

A declaration by the ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) said they had 'endorsed the final text of the ASEAN economic community blueprint' and is ready for signing by ASEAN leaders when they meet in Singapore in November.

'We settled the text today and we have the strategic scheduling' for the community to come into being, said Ong Keng Yong, secretary-general of ASEAN.

Ong said ASEAN economic ministers attending a three-day meeting in Manila would bring the text of the blueprint back home to their leaders in preparation for the signing.

The blueprint also includes a monitoring mechanism to ensure countries comply with it.

ASEAN, which includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, has set 2015 as the date for the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), an integrated grouping that will allow the region to compete with Asian giants China and India.

Malaysian Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz, the last chair of the ASEAN economic ministers' gathering, said the ASEAN Economic Community being envisioned should not be compared to the European Economic Community.

The ASEAN community would not involve the member countries' giving up sovereign power or adopting a common currency, she said.

'We cannot use anybody's template to evolve the ASEAN Economic Community. We are a different entity all together,' she said.

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