Progress and realisation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) can only be achieved if there is a clear blueprint, which identifies the end goal, the process to reach the end goal and a framework for proper assessment of the costs and benefits of an ASEAN Economic Community. AEC should not be...

This paper focuses on Indonesia's trade policies after the economic crisis. It examines the trend towards protection and addresses the issues of competitiveness. The concluding part briefly discusses Indonesia's policies on and involvement in free trade agreements (FTAs), which have recently...

F5

ASEAN economic cooperation is simultaneously deepening (through commitment to the establishment of an ASEAN Economic Community) and widening (through greater cooperation with China, Japan and South Korea). How can these potentially divergent paths be reconciled, especially when, at the highest...

This paper examines the role of foreign aid or development assistance in helping sustain East Asia's economic dynamism. It is not an historical account or an empirical study of the role of aid in East Asia's development. The first section discusses the changing landscape of development...

An overview of the direction of financial cooperation in relation to international trade cooperation, and its relevance to Indonesia

In the Fifth Summit of the ASEAN Plus Tree (APT) Leaders, the vision for an East Asian community - i.e., an East Asia that moves "from a region of nations to a bona fide regional community with shared challenges, common aspirations, and a parallel destiny" was articulated. Various motivations...

This essay examines the question of whether Canada should also form an FTA with ASEAN. The first section will provide an update on the status of the various FTA agreements that ASEAN has signed since 2002. This will be followed by an examination of these FTA agreements in relation to the ASEAN...

This paper examines problems and policies in regard to energy development under regional autonomy, distributions - in the sense of distributional or equity issues, poverty alleviation, subsidies, and corporate social responsibilities. The paper examines the problem from a simplified perspective,...