Interview: ASEAN community building expected to narrow development gaps: Thai official

The building of an ASEAN Community is a win-win process for all ASEAN member states and the peoples of the region, which is expected to help narrow regional development gaps, a senior Thai official has commented.

The region will become a larger single market and production base with freer flow of capital, goods and services, Vitavas Srivihok, Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"The ASEAN Community will not only bring us economic strength, but also enhance our ability to work together on such regional challenges as transnational crime, pandemics and natural disasters," he said.

ASEAN is perhaps one of the most diverse regional groupings in the world, in terms of both economic development and political, ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds, Vitavas noted.

But he stressed the diversity had never been an obstacle to forging ASEAN regional initiatives and ideals. "Our diversity can be a source of strength."

ASEAN has come up with initiatives in an attempt to close development gaps, the deputy permanent secretary said, citing the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) Work Plan and Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity (MPAC).

Thailand has always supported ASEAN Community building and has accelerated the preparation process over the last couple of years, according to Vitavas.

Several nationwide campaigns have been initiated to prepare Thailand for the realization of the ASEAN Community, which is comprised of three pillars, namely, the ASEAN Political-Security Community, ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community.

The campaigns include "enhancing our human resources and language training, accelerating internal legal processes to be able to implement existing obligations, as well as anticipating the implementation of agreements in the pipeline over the next 2 to 3 years with a view to promoting the country's competitiveness," Vitavas said.

The 10 ASEAN member states will enjoy considerable advantages from the launch of the ASEAN Community, as it will create new opportunities for all, the official underscored.

But the degree to which each country will enjoy such advantages, he added, may "depend to some extent on their implementation of new ASEAN rules and regulations."

As for Thailand, the economic benefits have been "sizeable and wide-ranging."

As Thailand's trade with other ASEAN members has been increasing, and with its strategic location, the country potentially stands to benefit from a more integrated market and a single production base, Vitavas stated.

Among others, he said, the kingdom will also benefit from the next key steps towards full realization of the AEC, including liberalization of trade in services, investment and labor mobility, and from many forms of ASEAN cooperation, such as the development of small and medium-sized enterprises.

"While the AEC brings economic benefits, the other two pillars have brought benefits in terms of peace, security in all dimensions, as well as people connectivity," Vitavas said.

In addition, the deputy permanent secretary highlighted several major challenges to be addressed during the community building process, including how to move member states together towards the realization of the three pillars, how to harmonize rules and regulations among the 10, how to combine their strength to compete with outside countries or groupings, how to tackle the negative side of connectivity, and how to promote ASEAN centrality to speak with single voice when dealing with dialogue partners. Endit