10 - Achieving the AEC 2015: Challenges for Thailand

Summary

The main objectives of this chapter are to discuss some progress in Thailand's commitments and implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint and the challenges it faces in pursuing the AEC commitments. The chapter will discuss five issues. After summarizing the road map of the AEC Blueprint and some liberalization milestones in the first part, the second part will explain the progress in Thailand's implementation of the AEC Blueprint with regard to the four characteristics of the AEC. The third part is a brief assessment of the impact of AFTA and remaining barriers in Thailand's services sector, while the fourth part focuses on the challenges faced by Thailand in pursuing the liberalization commitments under the AEC Blueprint. Finally, the chapter will conclude by discussing some possible policies for ASEAN to achieve its goal of economic integration.

The ASEAN Economic Community

The ASEAN vision 2020 envisaged “a stable, prosperous and highly competitive ASEAN economic region in which there is a free flow of goods, services, investment and freer flow of capital, equitable economic development and reduced poverty and socio-economic disparities” by the year 2020, which was later brought forward to 2015. To realize the goal, ASEAN leaders in October 2005 signed the Declaration of the Bali Concord II, which aims at an ASEAN Economic Community.

In 2007, ASEAN leaders adopted the AEC Blueprint, which laid out a road map to accelerate economic integration and included action plans, targets, and timelines to facilitate the process. The AEC Blueprint is organized along four characteristics: (1) a single market and production base; (2) a highly competitive economic region; (3) a region of equitable economic development; and (4) a region fully integrated into the global economy.

The road map spells out the core elements and action plan for each of the key characteristics of the AEC. For example, a single market and production base vision comprises five core elements: the free flow of goods, services, investment, capital, and skilled labour. In addition, given the scarce resources, ASEAN identified twelve priority integration sectors for accelerated economic integration. It also includes the action plans to enhance trade and long-term competitiveness of ASEAN's food, agriculture, and forestry products/commodities.