The announcement of the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) at the end of 2015 marked a major milestone for its member states: ‘we were pleased with the achievements of the regional economic integration efforts as demonstrated by the near completion of implementation of the AEC Blueprint 2015.’ However, while the ASEAN countries were able to implement a number of the regional measures by 2015, many of them remained incomplete. One reason for this gap in implementation are conflicts of interest between countries or firms or between government agencies responsible for implementation. This chapter looks at this aspect of policy implementation provides suggestions to address some of the conflicts that are slowing down the process of implementation. It seeks to answer why the 10 ASEAN members, despite committing themselves to AEC measures, have so far fallen short of their final deliverable of an integrated market. The chapter takes a qualitative approach and uses several secondary sources to observe the progress in AEC implementation. Although the AEC is a regional polity, implementation responsibility resides with the national governments. Hence, the empirical discussion adopts the perspective of the member countries, rather than that of ASEAN itself as a regional organisation.

This chapter charts developments in Southeast Asia concerning regional economic integration through the conclusion of plurilateral trade and investment agreements.It examines the early steps towards achieving economic integration, including the creation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (“ASEAN”) in 1967, and the progressive steps that Southeast Asian States have taken to liberalise their economic and investment policies through the ASEAN framework.It then considers various recent and ongoing developments in regional economic integration, including the negotiation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and its revival as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement on Trans-Pacific Partnership, the creation of the ASEAN Economic Community, and the ongoing negotiation of the Regional Comprehensive Partnership Agreement.It concludes with the observation that many innovations in the negotiation of IIAs are emerging from the practice of ASEAN and other Asian States which are having broader implications on the field of international investment law.