The ambitious agenda the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) adopted in Cebu, the Philippines, on Saturday will
hopefully transform the region.
It is moving the region faster towards a single market and
reshaping the regional grouping of ASEAN to meet the demands of the
21st century.
Leaders of the 10 ASEAN member countries affirmed their strong
commitment to accelerating the establishment of a free trade area
by 2015.
The move would liberalize the movement of goods, services,
investment and capital across a region of almost 570 million
people, around one-tenth of the world's population.
Southeast Asia is moving, though very slowly, towards economic
integration.
Once established, the region will be the largest trading bloc in
the world.
On the political front, integration is also in the making. The
group signed a commitment to create ASEAN's first charter, aimed at
turning it into a European Union-style entity with binding rules
and regulations.
The signed accord states that ASEAN has matured into a regional
organization and is expanding its role as an integrated regional
economy and a dynamic force in maintaining regional peace and
stability.
This is a region where economies grow on the principle of
equality and mutual benefit, with a plurality of cultures. The
member nations are resolved to create a charter as the crowning
achievement of ASEAN's 40 years. The charter is scheduled to be
adopted in November.
On Saturday the leaders also signed their first convention on
fighting terrorism, making it easier to track suspects and money
across borders, share intelligence information and extradite
suspects from one ASEAN country to another.
Even though the region has suffered a series of bloody attacks
in recent years, leaders also pledged to try to reintegrate
convicted terrorists into society a sharp departure from the usual
Western approaches.
All these documents herald a new, mature outlook of Southeast
Asia.
China has been coming closer to ASEAN, evidenced in a landmark
economic cooperation deal reached on Sunday.
Cooperation between China and ASEAN has already delivered
tangible benefits to the whole region.
(China Daily January 15, 2007)
