Discussion on Indonesia`s preparedness for AEC 2015

The AEC was aimed at developing a more dynamic and competitive ASEAN, Sundram Pushpanathan, Principal Director of the Bureau for Economic Integration and Finance at the ASEAN Secretariat, said when speaking before the meeting`s participants.

Efforts to achieve the goal included development of new mechanisms and capacity building in the economic field, regional integration and strengthening of ASEAN`s institutional mechanism, he said.

ASEAN needed to develop integrated regional infrastructures in the transportation, telecommunication and energy sectors, he said.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian foreign affairs ministry`s ASEAN Economic Cooperation Director Edi Yusuf explained that the AEC Blueprint was a master plan that was guiding ASEAN towards achieving an AEC by 2015 by clearly identifying economic integration measures and detailing commitments, targets and time lines for their implementation.

The final goal of the AEC 2015 was the realization of a single market and production base, in which there was a free flow of goods, services, investments and skilled labor, and a freer flow of capital, with equitable economic development and reduced poverty and socio-economic disparities.