ASEAN is on way to realize the goal of establishing an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of 2015, but under the "difficult" situation, measures of "high impact" need to be taken to ensure success, ASEAN Secretary-General Le Luong Minh said here on Thursday.
As of March 2013, over 77.5 percent of the AEC Blueprint which was adopted in 2007 has been implemented. "I'm optimistic that ASEAN will reach its 2015 goal," Le told Xinhua in an interview on the sidelines of the 22nd ASEAN Summit.
However, some of the toughest challenges still remain before a single market can be forged out of an economically diverse region, he said.
ASEAN hopes to become a European Union -- like community by 2015 with a single market and production base but has eschewed a common currency.
"Even though ASEAN members have a clear idea of what remains to be done, the remaining 22.5 percent of the Blueprint would be the most difficult part to crack," he said, adding "ASEAN leaders, officials, working groups and other stakeholders should have a clear and defined direction towards 2015 and beyond."
"Trade facilitation, formulating agreements on collective investment, promoting seamless transportation and customs across member states are all measures that have gained special focus," Le said at a press conference afterward.
"We also need to institutionalize discussions on regulatory improvement and incorporate innovation policies in ASEAN efforts," he added.
Describing the effort as building a house, he said that the framework was now in place but that completing the construction would take longer than 2015.
"Agreements made at the regional level have so far been implemented modestly at the national level. It is now necessary to ensure that ASEAN agreements trickle down to national plans and policies. I am optimistic this can be achieved in the given time period," he stressed.
According to a Chairman's Statement of the two-day summit, per capita income in the region rose from 2,267 U.S. dollars in 2007 since the adoption of the AEC to 3,759 U.S. dollars in 2009, while total trade of ASEAN grew by 16.8 percent from 2.05 trillion U.S. dollars in 2010 to 2.4 trillion U.S. dollars in 2011, with intra- ASEAN trade jumping 15.1 percent to 598 billion U.S. dollars during the same period.
ASEAN also recorded 114-billion-U.S. dollars of foreign direct investment in 2011, a 23 percent rise from the previous year.
