AEC Blueprint boosts region's per capita income, trade

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN: The Asean Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint has succeeded in boosting trade and pushing up per capita income in the region as well as attracting more foreign direct investments (FDIs).

Since the adoption of the blueprint in 2007, per capita income in the region has risen to US$3,759 in 2012 from US$2,267.

Total Asean trade grew by 16.8 per cent to US$2.4 trillion in 2011 from US$2.05 trillion in 2010 as intra-Asean trade reached US$598 billion from US$520 billion, an increase of 15.1 per cent over the same period.

These figures were contained in the 22nd Asean Summit Chairman Statement presented by Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah at the end of the two-day 22nd Asean Summit here yesterday.

The 10-member bloc also continued to attract foreign investors, generating a record US$114 billion FDI inflows in 2011, a 23 per cent increase from US$92 billion in 2010.

Up to March this year, Asean has implemented 77.45 per cent of all the AEC measures targeted durig the period under review, up from 74.5 per cent in October 2012.

Speaking at a press conference, the sultan, who is Asean 2013 chairman, said that leaders noted the progress that has been made under the blueprint and agreed on the need to enhance the region’s competitiveness and ensured that their work will be both beneficial and practical to the business community.

Asean Leaders have also tasked their ministers to develop a roadmap that will set out the initiatives to ease the way of doing business, address investment impediments, institutionalise discussions on regulatory improvement and incorporate innovation policies into Asean’s effort.

The Chairman Statement also stated the need to strengthen the Protocol on Enhanced Dispute Settlement Mechanism which will bring in line relevant Asean economic agreement with the principle of Asean as a rules-based community.

The leaders also encouraged the setting up of an inter-agency body in each Asean member state to undertake further work in addressing non-tariff barriers.

And to further strengthen these facilitation efforts, the leaders reiterated the need for the development of an Asean Business Travel Card to ease the movement of Asean business people and investors.

The sultan also remarked at the press conference that negotiations on one of the world’s largest trade pacts—the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership—will be held in Brunei next month.

The establishment of the AEC has been the centre of Asean’s regional economic integration efforts. It aimed by 2015 to have a single market and production base, a highly competitive economic region, a region of equitable economic development and a region fully integrated into the global economy.

The blueprint adopted by the leaders in 2007 serves as the master plan to guide the process.

However Asean Leaders stressed that 2015 is not the end-date for Asean’s regional economic integration efforts because all member states agree that Asean must continue to move forward.

The full realisation of the AEC will be an on-going process and that 2015 will be a milestone from which Asean can take stock of how much it has achieved and assess from where to move forward.

Asean, comprising Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand, has a total population of some 600 million people, which is about 8.8 per cent of the world’s population.

 Asean leaders who attended the 22nd Summit included Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Singapore Prime Minster Lee Hsien Loong, Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino, Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Myanmar President U Thein Sein and Asean Secretary-General Le Luong Minh.

Malaysia was represented by Senate President Abu Zahar Ujang, who led the Malaysian delegation as a Special Representative of the Prime Minister.

The delegation comprised senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), Ministry of Information Communications and Culture and the Economic Planning Unit of the Prime Minister’s Department.