We must push toward an ASEAN Economic Community: Gok Chok Tong

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, October 07, 2003

We must push toward an ASEAN Economic Community: Gok Chok Tong

Singapore Prime Minister Gok Chok Tong Monday in Bali strongly urged the ASEAN members to accelerate the process of establishing a single market to deal with the challenges facing the region.

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Singapore Prime Minister Gok Chok Tong Monday in Bali strongly urged the ASEAN members to accelerate the process of establishing a single market to deal with the challenges facing the region.

Delivering a keynote address at the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit, Gok compared the progress made by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in economic integration with what was achieved in Americas and Europe, and deplored the group's inadequate response to the landmark developments in those regions.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Analyzing the reasons for the slow movement towards a single ASEAN market, the prime minister cited, among other factors, the red tape and delays that businesses would encounter when applying for preferential treatment under AFTA and the bewildering range of standards for products, which vary from one ASEAN country to another.

In order to resolve these hindrances, Gok called on all ASEAN countries to make difficult internal adjustments.

"The need for ASEAN to press on with economic integration remains as urgent as ever, if not more so. We must push towards an ASEAN Economic Community: a single production base and a single market, with free movement of goods, services and capital," he said.

"Just as the formation of the European Coal and Steel Community50 years ago helped revitalize the war-torn European economies, I believe the ASEAN Economic Community will revitalize ASEAN economies," Gok concluded.

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