ASEAN signifies continuous economic growth among members. After the attempts to establish ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) have been achieved in 2003, the 8 th ASEAN Summit in November 2002 agreed to set ASEAN direction towards ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), similar to that of the European Economic Community (EEC). At the same time, ASEAN members were encouraged to improve their internal performance towards a more efficient manner.
During the ASEAN Summit 2003, ASEAN Heads of States announced a statement called Bali Concord II, agreeing to move towards ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2020. At the same time, it urged members to move towards free trade on 11 priority sectors of goods and services, including tourism, air travel, automotives, wood based products, rubber-based products, textiles and apparels, electronics, agro-based products, fisheries, IT technology (e-ASEAN) and healthcare.