Trends and issues of ASEAN Intra-Regional Trade ahead of the ASEAN economic community

Abstract

ASEAN is one of the most outstanding, newly emerging regions that have achieved dynamic economic growth and development. Despite the economic depression worldwide after the global financial crisis and European Fiscal Crisis, ASEAN has stably maintained 5 to 6% economic growth rates since 2009. After the formation of AFTA in 1993 and the East Asian economic crisis during 1997-1998, it has accelerated the entry into the global economic system, expanding its trade liberalization through FTA with China(2005), Korea(2007), Japan(2008), India(2010), and Australia & New Zealand(2010) in 2000s. Thereafter, its economic liberalization and integration, both in and out of the region, has been accelerated more rapidly. The economic integration over ASEAN started in full scale with the establishment of AFTA with intra-regional CEPT(Common Effective Preferential Tariff) in 1993. As AFTA was established in 1993, it was regarded as a realistic alternative to multilateralism, which was a mainstream up to the 1980s. when initiatives of regionalism such as EU, NAFTA, and MERCOSUR started to be realized. In the I990s. the Uruguay Round of GATT, designed to realize trade liberalization and multilateralism, was wing through the last stage of suffering before the final conclusion in 1994. However, due to the slow progress of negotiation for such a long period of time, major countries including Europe and the U.S. turned to neighboring countries closely related with them in terms of economic interests. in Europe, 17 major countries including the U.K. France, and Germany founded F.0 as a common market based on Maastricht Treaty in 1992. Thereafter, NAHA, a free trading zone of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, was founded in 1994, and MERCOSUR, a type of custom union over Central and South America, was established in 995. As AFTA was established in 1993, it fell behind EU but went ahead of NAFTA and MERCOSUR in time. This indicates that it was of historical significance as a regional system of economic integration.