A

SEAN leaders gather in Hanoi this week for the 43rd ASEAN Ministerial Meeting, with a focus on the implementation of the newly ratified 2008 Charter.

The charter provides a legal framework for the regional body and sets goals for the political, economic and sociocultural development of its member states.

This is the second of three stories on ASEAN’s modalities to achieve its goals.

In his keynote address at the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Hanoi this week, Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung urged all ASEAN foreign ministers to continue their efforts in reaching the goals set by the 2008 Charter.

“[R]ealizing the goal of the ASEAN Community is the top priority for ASEAN now and in the years to come,” he said, referring to the political-strategic, economic and socio-cultural goals set out in the charter, including the full economic integration of ASEAN by 2015.

However, ASEAN Secretariat Finance Integration head Aladdin D. Rillo has expressed doubts regarding the integration of ASEAN in the time frame outlined in the ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint.

The blueprint aims to create a single market and production base that will allow the free flow of goods, services, investment, capital and labor throughout the region by 2015.

“My personal view is that there will only be a semblance of economic integration … Not the full integration that the term implies,” Rillo told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

“Because, if we want to have full economic integration, it means really a single market, a single production base ... And also it means that financial markets are fully integrated, but I don’t think that will be happening.”

Despite this skeptical outlook, Rillo concedes there may be some elements of integration in place by 2015, such as the deepening of financial markets, a harmonization of market standards, and linked stock exchanges in the region.

He said it has taken the EU more than 50 years to achieve the level of economic integration that exists there today, which even now cannot be termed a fully integrated market.

He maintained, however, that economic integration within the ASEAN region would be a desirable outcome.

“I think it will make the ASEAN region more competitive,” he said. “Investors are still looking at us as individual countries.

“Each economy is small, so it cannot attract a lot of investment in the region. But by creating a single, bigger market it will make the region more attractive.”

University of Indonesia economist Chatib Basri agrees. “Five years is not going to be easy,” he told the Post.

However, he believes that further liberalization of trade in the region is an inevitable outcome, with benefits to the Indonesian economy likely to become apparent by 2025.

“Many countries in the Asia-Pacific region, for example China, Japan and Singapore, face the problem of an ageing population,” he said.

“Whereas in Indonesia, our population is relatively young.”

Chatib suggested that Indonesia should see its young and abundant population as a comparative advantage over other states in the region.

“Trade is always a matter of give and take,” he commented, suggesting that the Indonesian government should compensate its weakening sectors with a stronger emphasis on infrastructure and training.

Economist Aviliani expressed concern for Indonesia’s large unskilled workforce because increasing numbers of skilled foreign workers were predicted to flood the country’s trade and industry through further integration.

“For this reason, the government needs to have a proper strategy with regard to the country’s human resources and industrial development,” she said.