The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is the most successful regional grouping in the developing would. Its latest project is to establish an ASEAN Economic Community by 31 December 2015, consisting of economic, political-security, and social cultural components. This column argues that giving commitments more teeth is the key challenge to be overcome in realising the ASEAN Economic Community if it is to be more than a political exercise in solidarity.e Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is the most successful regional grouping in the developing would. Born as a politico-security pact in the aftermath of the Viet Nam War in 1967, it started with five countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. Brunei Darussalam joined in 1984, followed by Viet Nam in 1995, Lao PDR and Myanmar in 1997, and finally Cambodia in 1999, bringing the total to 10 countries. Apart from expanding its membership, ASEAN has evolved to embrace an ambitious economic agenda. Its latest project is to establish an ASEAN Community by 31 December, 2015, consisting of three components: Economic, Political-Security, and Social Cultural. If ASEAN were one economy, as the ASEAN Economic Community intends it to be, it would be seventh largest in the world with a combined GDP of $2.4 trillion in 2013. With over 600 million people, ASEAN’s potential market is larger than the EU, and has the world’s third largest workforce (Hill and Menon 2012).
The following three questions are fundamental to the ASEAN Economic Community, and are addressed in turn, below: (i) What are the achievements to date in terms of realising an ASEAN Economic Community?; (ii) What are the remaining challenges; and (iii) Is the deadline likely to be met, and will it matter?