Roundup: ASEAN economic ministers meet for final push on economic community, stronger external ties

Economic ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will put the finishing touches to the formal establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by year-end at meetings kicking off this weekend, while pushing closer ties with its leading trading partners including China.

The 47th ASEAN Economic Ministers'Meeting and related meeting, to be held in the Malaysian capital from Aug. 22 to 25, is expected to deliberate on the implementation of the AEC measures, especially the completion of commitments agreed to under the AEC 2015 Blueprint, the work on developing the ASEAN Post-2015 Economic Vision 2025 and strategic action plans for the next 10 years, among others.

The 10 nation bloc is set to announce the establishment of ASEAN community by the end of this year based on three pillars: political-security community, economic community and socio- cultural community.

Among the three, the economic community has triggered the most excitement. It seeks to formally establish a single market and production base among the 10 member states of ASEAN with a total population of more than 600 million.

"The eventual integration of national economies into a single regional bloc is expected to facilitate the creation of a seamless trade and investment regime in ASEAN. It will also propel ASEAN's economy, whose GDP currently is estimated at 2.7 trillion U.S. dollars, into a global powerhouse, with GDP expected to rise to a combined 4.7 trillion U.S. dollars by 2020," said Mustapa Mohamed, Malaysian international trade and industry minister who will chair the meetings.

He told a press conference ahead of the meetings that there would be no roll-back on the numerous initiatives towards the economic community.

"The present economic challenges like weaker regional currencies and sharp drop in oil and other commodity prices, will make us even stronger towards achieving closer economic integration,"he said.

Considering the huge development gap within ASEAN, officials insist that the establishment of AEC does not spell a "mission accomplished" but another starting point for greater integration.

"I don't think we can achieve 100 percent compliance by the end of this year but I think by achieving the current 90 to 95 percent, we have come a long way and that is good start on achieving the ASEAN integrated community,"said Abdul Wahid Omar, a senior Malaysian minister in charge of economic planning.

ASEAN, established on Aug. 8, 1967, groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

ASEAN's dialogue partners, including China, will join the meetings to discuss ways to strengthen economic ties including trade and investment.

Mustapa said ASEAN will continue strengthening trade relations with China. China is the largest trading partner of ASEAN. China- ASEAN trade totaled 480.1 billion U.S. dollars in 2014, an increase of 8.23 percent.

Despite the sluggish global economic environment and China's undergoing a "new normal" in its economy that demands shifting its development model to a more balanced and sustainable one, the trade between China and ASEAN increased by 1.6 percent to 224.38 billion U.S. dollars in the first half of 2015.

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and"One Belt, One Road "initiative proposed by China have received warm welcome from ASEAN countries.

The upcoming meetings will also touch on the progress in the enhancement and upgrade of ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement.

On the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a proposed free trade agreement between ASEAN members and its free trade partners, namely, Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea, Mustapa said talks will be held on Monday with the aim to conclude negotiations by the end of the year. Endi