For now, opinions are mixed on how far Asean countries have come in doing everything necessary to make the big first step. Governments and the Asean secretariat feel that more than 80% of their goals have been achieved, but the private sector does not see evidence of much progress when it comes to making it easier to do business across borders. Then again, some businesses, especially smaller ones, have done little or nothing to prepare themselves.
So far, Asean overall has progressed to a level of 80% in terms of eliminating tariffs on goods traded within the region. Some items remain on sensitive lists in each country, for instance coffee beans, copra, potatoes and cut flowers in Thailand, but these items will have tariffs reduced to zero by the end of 2015. Asean in general has been on the right track to eliminate all tariffs by the end of 2015.
Only 50% of businesses in Asean are estimated to have taken advantage of tariff reductions under the regional FTA [Free Trade Agreement] and governments have not been active enough to encourage the private sector to utilise them. Required harmonisation of standards and regulations still has to be carried out and that should encourage more businesses to apply for Asean privileges.