The ASEAN Economic Community: A work in progress (Manila Times, 29 July 2017)
According to the AEC Blueprint 2015, the aim is “to transform ASEAN into a single market and production base, a highly competitive economic region, a region of equitable economic development, and a region fully integrated into the global economy.” The ASEAN Economic Community remains very much a work in progress. As critics noted of the implementation of the ASEAN Blueprint 2015, levels of integration vary greatly by sector. The free flow of goods among ASEAN member countries continues to be limited by the use of non-tariff measures (NTMs). While minimizing NTMs is an action target in the ASEAN Blueprint 2015, the voluntary approach taken has met with limited success.