Economic ministers of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) gathered in the Philippines on Friday to discuss a blueprint for an integrated economic community by 2015, DPA reported. The ministers were urged to "tie down all the loose ends" in the roadmap to ensure ASEAN economies are integrated by 2015. Philippine Trade Secretary Peter Favila, chairman of the annual meeting in Manila, said it was time for the ASEAN to implement the blueprint for an ASEAN Economic Community. "The time to draft the ASEAN economic community blueprint is done," he told the start of the meeting. "The time to implement the ASEAN economic community blueprint has now come." Favila said the roadmap would be comprehensive and flexible to allow members to "adjust to the vagaries of the global economy and political landscape." ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar. The regional bloc hopes that by establishing the ASEAN Economic Community by 2015, it would be able to compete with such Asian giants as China and India. ASEAN is also negotiating separate free-trade agreements with China, India, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Australia and the European Union.
