Challenges in Implementing the AEC Blueprint

At their summit in November 2007 in Singapore, the ASEAN leaders adopted the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint. The Blueprint is a comprehensive document that was crafted to realize the AEC by 2015. The AEC is envisaged to be:

1. (i) a single market and production base;

2. (ii) a highly competitive economic region;

3. (iii) a region of equitable economic development; and

4. (iv) a region that is fully integrated into the global economy.

With the adoption of the Blueprint, ASEAN is now ready to move into an economic integration process that is driven by clearly defined goals and timelines. However, there are a number of challenges in implementing the Blueprint.

Although the Blueprint is a binding document, there is a serious lack of capacity in ASEAN to enforce it either at the regional or at the national level. Moreover, some goals in the Blueprint are vaguely defined with hardly any milestones. Therefore, in the process of its implementation, signposts will need to be erected to track the progress made towards achieving the goals. Here the development of “scorecards” can be useful, perhaps even critical, in the successful implementation of the Blueprint.

ASEAN appears to be less than transparent regarding disclosing its members' failure to implement economic commitments. While ASEAN has made progress in publicizing its many economic initiatives, it has a rather poor track record in informing the public about the implementation process and outcomes of these initiatives.

Other challenges faced by many member countries in implementing the Blueprint include customs modernization, standards and conformance, and infrastructure development. Hence, there may be a need to establish institutions or mechanisms to monitor the implementation of commitments in the Blueprint. Each member country could begin this process by preparing a more detailed national action plan to implement the AEC Blueprint.

By having a set of peer-review mechanisms based on systematic monitoring and tracking at the regional and national levels, meaningful “signposts” to indicate progress (or the lack thereof) towards achieving the AEC can be established. Systematic efforts at monitoring and tracking the progress would clearly contribute to the successful implementation of the Blueprint. In turn, this could help identify areas in which analysis, policy development and technical inputs would need to be organized.