Do you fully understand the impact of ASEAN INTEGRATION for your small business or even how will it impact your job as a freelancer? I have tried to read the ASEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY HANDBOOK for Business 2012, but I haven’t finished it yet. Basically, the member nations, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Lao DPR, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam commit to “hasten the establishment of the AEC (Asean Economic Community) by 2015 and to transform ASEAN into a region with free movement of goods, services, investment, skilled labour and freer flow of capital.”
*Image from ASEAN Economic Community Handbook for Business 2012
As set out in the ASEAN Declaration, the aims and purposes of ASEAN are:
*From this link: http://www.asean.org/asean/about-asean/overview
– To accelerate the economic growth, social progress and cultural development in the region through joint endeavours in the spirit of equality and partnership in order to strengthen the foundation for a prosperous and peaceful community of Southeast Asian Nations;
– To promote regional peace and stability through abiding respect for justice and the rule of law in the relationship among countries of the region and adherence to the principles of the United Nations Charter;
– To promote active collaboration and mutual assistance on matters of common interest in the economic, social, cultural, technical, scientific and administrative fields;
– To provide assistance to each other in the form of training and research facilities in the educational, professional, technical and administrative spheres;
– To collaborate more effectively for the greater utilisation of their agriculture and industries, the expansion of their trade, including the study of the problems of international commodity trade, the improvement of their transportation and communications facilities and the raising of the living standards of their peoples;
– To promote Southeast Asian studies; and
– To maintain close and beneficial cooperation with existing international and regional organisations with similar aims and purposes, and explore all avenues for even closer cooperation among themselves.
Reading the handbook, it states that there are four pillars to the AEC: 1) Single Market and Production Base; 2) Competitive Economic Region; 3) Equitable Economic Development; and 4) ASEAN’s Integration into the Global Economy. These four pillars is really to make ASEAN more competitive globally.
Given that we are striving for a single market and production base, there will be a:
1. Free flow of goods;
2. Free flow of services;
3. Free flow of investment;
4. Freer flow of capital; and
5. Free flow of skilled labour
Given these things, it’s really important that we get to understand what all of these will do to our businesses. On April 16, 2015, Manila Workshops will be running a webinar on ASEAN INTEGRATION. It will be from 7:00 to 9:00 PM s please feel free to share this webinar with everyone.
You can sign up using this link: http://manilaworkshops.com/events/understanding-the-asean-integration
To know more about the ASEAN Integration, you can also visit: http://www.asean.org/
