The immediate priority is to improve the implementation of AEC Blueprint’s strategic
actions so that the 2015 timelines can be met as far as possible. Problematic areas are
measures pertaining to services liberalization, trade facilitation, and free flow of skilled
labor.28
Monitoring the progress of the AEC should be strengthened. There is a need to
strengthen the monitoring capacity of the ASEAN Secretariat and provide technical
assistance to member states to enhance their implementation capacity. Greater private
sector feedback should be undertaken to assess the impact and effectiveness of the
policies and measures being implemented, so as to address the business impediments to
the free flow of goods, services, investments, capital, and skilled labor.
It is crucial that efforts are intensified both at regional and country levels to close
the implementation gaps. As discussed earlier, obstacles to implementation include
legislative and regulatory limitations and effective coordination of implementation across
various national ministries and agencies. A better effort needs to be made to gain the
acceptance of legislators, government officials, business leaders, and the general public
of the benefits of trade and investment liberalization and of the costs of non-action. In any
FTA, there are winners and losers. Winners are businesses, investors, workers, and
consumers that gain directly from liberalization and integration, while losers are those
businesses and workers that face intensified competition from foreign suppliers, investors,
and professionals. There should be greater understanding of the political economy of
FTAs. Policymakers have the tough task of marketing the liberalization idea,
commissioning and disseminating studies on the benefits of economic integration, seeking
consultations with the private sector and workers to identify short-term losers, and finding
mechanisms to “compensate” losers through financial, technical assistance to enable
firms to seek new businesses and workers to undertake training for new jobs. Some
ASEAN countries such as Singapore have been more successful than others in achieving
this objective.
There is growing consensus that it would not be possible to fully implement the AEC
Blueprint by end-2015, particularly as some measures such as the removal of NTBs and
investment in infrastructure have long gestation periods. The important thing is to set in
motion the process, even if full implementation extends beyond 2015.