What do you think is Asean’s competitive advantage over other nations?
There is a lot of sceptism over Asean integration. How could we be a single market when they compete against one another? Unlike in the WTO, where they have a voting system and those members who are found violating the rules get punished. But in AFTA and Asean there’s no such thing as a rule-based system, no binding agreement. Delagates would meet and initially agree on certain duties and tariffs on products. But then eventually they find it difficult or impossible to push them through their cabinets. There are no commitments, no penalty but everything has to be based on consensus, and every country has to agree. If one country is absent, decisions cannot be made. Regarding Asean’s competitive advantage, you can see Asean for the last 3 decades has grown much faster than Europe. We have had consistent growth despite the financial crises. Besides, Asean is rich in energy and natural resources, labour (cheap and skilled). Q: What are the difficulties the countries are facing promoting in
