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ormer director general of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Pascal Lamy has called for the deepening of economic integration in Southeast Asia to significantly boost business efficiency in the region, for increased prominence and influence globally.

Speaking during the East Asia Policy Dialogue on Friday, Lamy said that ASEAN should seek regulatory convergence by streamlining scattered standards, measures and systems to improve the efficiency of the goods and services supply chain, as carried out earlier by the EU.

'€œIt'€™s necessary. This is what integration is about today, but it'€™s formidably complex,'€ Lamy, now the honorary president of the Notre Europe - Jacques Delors Institute, said at a dialogue hosted by the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia.

Priority needs to be given to goods and services, such as medicines and airlines, which primarily demand economic scale in production or provision and thereby lowered costs, he further said.

'€œIf ASEAN organizes a single sky-slot administration system for airlines, instead of having different administrators of the sky for the airlines, this will rationalize the possibilities for airlines to fly,'€ he said. '€œIt will increase the supply of airline slots, increase air traffic and finally reduce the cost of air transportation for the public.'€

The 10 ASEAN member states are bracing for the implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community by the end of 2015, which will turn the region into a single market and production base, a step forward for integrating into the global economy.

The regional grouping has already taken steps to simplify its customs procedures, particularly through the ASEAN Single Window, and to unify standards in the manufacturing of goods, such as through cosmetic directives, as well as in the offering of services, such as common competency standards for tourism professionals.

All these efforts aim to allow a freer flow of goods and services, which has played a key role in shaping the transformation of Southeast Asian economies in the past decades.

Lamy further noted Indonesia'€™s achievement in maintaining its competitive edge in exports over the past decade. But he also underlined the importance of infrastructure to retain such an advantage and further embrace the worldwide supply chain.

'€œIndonesia, compared to other exporting countries, has been doing well for the last ten years. It'€™s one of the few countries where competitiveness either remains the same or increases, whereas most other exporters have seen their competitiveness decline,'€ he said.

In its latest report, the Geneva-based World Economic Forum upgraded Indonesia'€™s ranking by four notches to 34th place out of 144 countries examined overall.

Enhanced infrastructure and connectivity, in addition to stronger public and private governance, was the major driver of such a progression in the ease of doing business in Southeast Asia'€™s largest economy.

However, economists have also warned that such increased competitiveness should be viewed relative to Southeast Asian peers, which have similarly been making concerted efforts to improve their edge ahead of the creation of the ASEAN single economic entity.