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ASEAN 2015? Say what?
May of us, Filipinos, may have already encountered it online, but is this something that will have great impact to our respective lives?
The answer is a resounding YES. I am no expert on this matter but based on my understanding, ASEAN 2015 will significantly shape our future as a country and as individuals.
What is ASEAN 2015?
ASEAN 2015 is a short term for ASEAN Economic Integration 2015. In a nutshell, the goal of this endeavor is to establish a strong economic community among the members of ASEAN by year 2015.
ASEAN, by the way, stands for Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The members of which are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
If we are familiar with the EU or the European Union, well, that is what ASEAN is aiming for starting 2015.
With ASEAN 2015, member nations are expected to prosper thus paving the way for peace throughout the region and better life for the people.
What is Economic Integration for ASEAN?
Economic Integration simply refers to the free movement of goods, services, investment, skilled labor and capital.
Imagine goods from Thailand can be easily sold to Myanmar. Students from Cambodia can easily enroll in Brunei. And engineers from Indonesia can easily practice their profession in Lao. And Filipino entrepreneurs can easily invest in Singapore.
That is how things will change by 2015.
Should we be excited?
Again, it's a resounding YES! We should really be excited with this upcoming opportunity.
However, there are pros and cons that we should be aware of. These will be discussed in my future posts so be sure to follow my blog for updates.
References
http://www.asean.org/communities/asean-economic-community
http://dirp4.pids.gov.ph/webportal/CDN/PUBLICATIONS/pidsrp1302.pdf
http://www.asean.org/asean/about-asean
