Southeast Asian Countries Union: EU-Style 'ASEAN Economic Community' Formally Launched

Southeast Asian countries have formally established a regional economic bloc - ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Sunday signed a declaration on establishment of AEC, paving the way for a single market with unrestricted movement of capital, goods and labour in the region, according to The Tribune.

The ten-member ASEAN includes Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines and Vietnam.

"We now have to ensure that we truly create a single market and production base with freer movement of goods and services with common standards, far greater connectivity and removal of barriers," said summit's host Najib Razak, the Malaysian Prime Minister, according to AFP.

Mohamad Munir Abdul Majid, head of ASEAN business advisory council, said that there is much work to be done on economic integration in the region.

"The ASEAN Economic Community is not the finished article. Neither is it officially claimed to be. There is much work to be done. There is a disparity between what is officially recorded as having been achieved...and what the private sector reports as their experience," Majid told Associated Press.

The leaders also signed Kuala Lumpur declaration on 'ASEAN 2025 Forging Ahead Together', which says the ASEAN is working towards a community that is politically cohesive, economically integrated and socially responsible.

"Our ASEAN way has guided us and will continue to be our compass as we seek to realize a politically cohesive, economically integrated, socially responsible and a truly people-oriented, people-centered rules-based ASEAN," Razak said in his speech in summit, according to VOA News.

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European Union, Eu, Malaysia, Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Philippines