Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have reaffirmed their strong commitments in their annual Summit meeting here to speed up the effective implementation through concrete measures to build ASEAN Community in 2015.

Yet, as the deadline approaches, wide development gaps within the region raises a question: how to prove the 2015 vision is not a stretch goal?

Action makes the difference. Leaders concluded the summit with an answer.

ACTION PROMISED

ASEAN has been repeating its aspiration to realize the vision of ASEAN Community by 2015 during the summit.

The theme of the Summit -- Towards the ASEAN Community: from Vision to Action -- underlined ASEAN's focus and strong sense of action for this year and beyond.

ASEAN leaders stressed the need to set up a monitoring mechanism to ensure the effective and well-timed implementation of cooperation programs and plans as agreed within the ASEAN framework. This will give more impetus for ASEAN to quickly realize its goal of building the ASEAN Community by 2015.

Nguyen Tan Dung, Vietnamese prime minister and chairman of the 16th ASEAN Summit, said the ten-member regional group has entered a new stage of development, "steadily moving towards the realization of the ASEAN Community by 2015."

Dung said the most important thing for ASEAN member countries now is to join hands in action, undertake concrete steps and measures to accomplish the set goals and plans.

Singapore Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Thursday urged his fellow ASEAN leaders to redouble their efforts in cooperation projects and implement key programs to retain the region's centrality and strategic influence.

He noted that it would ensure that ASEAN remains competitive and continues to benefit from the growth of regional powerhouses China and India amid the global economic recovery.

Analysts also hoped the leaders "will give impetus" to the integration process.

"The first is to give impetus, which only leaders can sufficiently provide, to the process of regional economic integration," former ASEAN secretary-general Rodolfo Severino wrote in his latest opinion piece ahead of the summit.

ECONOMY FOCUSED

"To be sure, the removal of tariffs on intra-ASEAN trade is on track, at least on paper," said Severino, currently the head of the ASEAN Studies Center at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.

Leaders pledged to push forward with efforts to deepen the integration of regional economies with a goal to establish a single market by 2015.

Six ASEAN countries, including Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore should accordingly cancel taxation of most products since Jan. 1, 2010, and the other four will do the same by 2015.

ASEAN Leaders also expressed their determination for ASEAN to sustain growth in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, according to the chairman's statement released on Friday.

Leaders said they were confident the support measures could be phased out without damaging economic recovery.

ASEAN's export-dependent economies were battered by the financial crisis that began in the United States in late 2008 and lasted well into last year.

Like the rest of Asia, ASEAN governments rolled out massive economic stimulus packages and policies to boost domestic spending and eased credit lines to help the region emerge from the crisis better than expected.

Good news is that the economy growth across the ten-member bloc is expected to outpace the global average by 4.9 percent to 5.6 percent, ASEAN finance ministers said on Thursday.

The ASEAN member states collectively grew by just 1.3 per cent in 2009 as it was battered through the global financial crisis.

CONNECTIVITY HIGHLIGHTED

Other things need to be done to integrate the regional economy, broad-based and effective, Severino suggested, to dismantle the political, economic and technical obstacles to the efficient flow of goods, services, people and ideas across the region. Connectivity was made a key issue during the summit. In a joint statement, the ASEAN leaders urged member states to explore efficient financing instruments and policies for viable regional infrastructure investment, including establishing an ASEAN infrastructure fund.

"We believe that a more connected region will enhance regional integration." said Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Analysts said the physical and telecommunication links will complement ASEAN's efforts to tear down trade barriers and help its goal of establishing a single market and manufacturing base by 2015.