Established after the grouping’s 48 years of existence, the Asean Community is based on three pillars, namely the Asean Political and Security Community, Asean Economic Community and Asean Socio-Cultural Community. The newly launched Asean Economic Community (AEC) is rife with weaknesses and fails to provide a clear picture of what the Asean people can expect in terms of human rights, democracy, development and the environment, civil society groups said today.
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But, he said, the notion of the Asean Community went beyond that.
The AEC envisages a single market with a free flow of goods, capital and skilled labour across borders in the highly competitive economic region. As of October 31, ASEAN had only completed 79.5 percent of a full AEC scorecard of over 600 measures.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak called on world leaders to confront Islamic terrorism, saying its “barbaric acts” do not represent any race or religion, as he opened a regional summit overshadowed by a spate of attacks around the globe.
The signing ceremony Sunday included musical performances, a video montage of past meetings, a Technicolor light show and the leaders beating on traditional drums simultaneously to signify unity.
He underlined the need for ensuring that the Internet does not become a “recruiting ground” for terrorism, amid the growing trend of ISIS luring youth from across the globe, and spoke about the world coming together to use “military force” and “international legal systems” to fight the menace.
That magnificent achievement is because of Asean. Intra-regional trade has remained at around 24 percent of ASEAN’s total global trade for the last decade, far lower than 60 percent in the European Union.
As it is, our combined GDP is expected to reach Dollars 4.7 trillion by 2020.
They also noted the significance of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia and other key Asean instruments in maintaining a peaceful and stable region, which contributes to Asean Community building. Much remains to be done and the region faces many challenges in finishing.
Fourthly, the prime minister sought an early conclusion of a regional comprehensive economic partnership. It includes the 10 Asean nations, China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
The invitation to ASEAN comes after a week which has seen the United States and China repeatedly trade barbs over the tense maritime standoff in the South China Sea, as they jostle for influence in the rapidly-developing Southeast Asian region.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak says his country is honored to host an annual gathering of leaders from 18 Asia-Pacific countries including the United States and Russian Federation.
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“We agreed to allow negotiations to continue and request our negotiators to intensify efforts to conclude and achieved a mutually beneficial and high quality agreement in 2016”, it added.
