Exclusive: Interview with new ASEAN Secretary-General (By Inside Investor)

Exclusive: Interview with new ASEAN Secretary-General February 19th, 2013 In an exclusive interview with Inside Investor, the new ASEAN Secretary-General Le Luong Minh said that he expects the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), after being established by the end of 2015, to lift per capita income in the ASEAN-5 nations (Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore) between 17 and 26 per cent. "When the AEC will be realised by 2015, it is expected to add up to $69 billion in ASEAN GDP from a baseline figure (2008) and to between $117 billion and $264 billion in FDI stocks per annum. It will also increase per capita GDP in ASEAN-5 by between 17 and 26 per cent on average, and will contribute to significant productivity improvements in smaller ASEAN economies," Minh said. He, however, acknowledged that there are still several challenges to be addressed as the AEC, two years ahead of the formation of the bloc, presently has just around 74 per cent of respective measures in place. "A number of measures are still pending particularly in services liberalisation, standards and conformance, customs integration, and connectivity. Thus it is important that implementation bottlenecks are addressed," Minh said. "Priority areas are, for example, the elimination of non-tariff barriers, removal of restrictions on cross-border investments, implementation of mutual recognition arrangements for services sectors and facilitating movement of capital," he added. "In investment, one priority is to increase equity participation in local industries and reduce business costs; and in facilitating freer flow of capital, harmonising withholding taxes can be the goal," Minh said.

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