The Asean Economic
Community (AEC), with 74.5% overall implementation rate by Asean nations since
the launch of the blueprint in 2008, is under way for realisation on Dec 31,
2015.
Asean deputy secretary-general Dr Lim Hong Hin said
although the grouping is on track and hopes to reach 100% soon, it has to take
into account the different levels of development in all Asean countries.
"The region's more advanced countries might be
able to implement the measures faster than the others, depending on what
institutional capacity they have and that the measures under the blueprint
would lessen the economical gap between Asean members," he said at the
launch of the Asean Comprehensive Investment Agreement (ACIA) Guidebook for
Businesses and the ACIA Handbook for Investment Promotion Agencies here today.
He said Asean leaders are constantly looking at the
bigger picture and what was best for the region, adding that the launch of the
Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) framework last year was
proof of that.
The RCEP aims to be the largest free-trade bloc in the
world, comprising 10 Asean states and the six nations with which the group has
free-trade agreements (FTAs), namely, China, India, Japan, South Korea,
Australia and New Zealand.
"Negotiations are ongoing and we aim to conclude
the RCEP by end-2015, following that, we will open up the partnership to the
rest of the world.
"The biggest advantage of the RCEP is that we
have a platform to start with because we have bilateral FTAs," he said.
On efforts to narrow the gap between Asean countries,
he said outside assistance has been brought in to come up with a feasible
framework for Asean to adopt to ensure its members would be on the same level
come 2015.
"We have concluded the pilot test in seven
countries last year and we will be extending it to the remaining three,"
he said.
The 10 countries under AEC are Malaysia, Indonesia,
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Bernama
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