The ASEAN Community, which is set to become a reality by year’s end, will mark a milestone in the process of Asian integration.

The community’s formation, which is expected to effectively optimize regional economic growth, will also bring huge opportunities for the framework of the ASEAN plus China, Japan and South Korea cooperation mechanism (“10+3”) to further promote regional integration by boosting practical cooperation.

… “The opportunities associated with AEC are wide-ranging,” said Oh Ei Sun, senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies of Singapore Nanyang Technological University, during a recent interview with Xinhua.

“The removal or reduction of tariffs among ASEAN countries over goods will almost certainly improve trade among ASEAN members, at a time when internal ASEAN trade is only one-third of external ASEAN trade volume,” he said.