The foundation of the AEC and its implication for South Korea
What will be the ASEAN like in the time of the AEC? It may be too early to forecast the AEC in 10~20 years when the AEC just pulled up its anchor. Even short-term outlook is not an easy thing to challenge as emerging markets with high volatility consist of most parts of the region.
This could explain why negative voices concerning the future of the AEC started to be echoed. The question is whether the AEC can evolve itself something beyond a regional agreement body. Doubts are cast upon the significant disparity of the social and cultural environment among the member countries.
The foundation of the AEC and its implication for South Korea
The AEC has been expected to draw huge attention from the international society ever since it came into the world. It isn’t too much to say that agendas of the AEC blueprint 2025 such as elimination of tariffs, facilitation of skilled labor mobility, liberalization of investment and promotion of connectivity have been greatly valued to the global community.
In fact, meaningful progress was already achieved since more than 70% of the intra-regional trade has been conducted free from any types of tariff.
The foundation of the AEC and its implication for South Korea
However, all countries may share their uniformed look at the ‘AEC(ASEAN Economic Community)’. It is because the AEC came to the 2nd year of its ambitious inauguration 47 years after the establishment of the ASEAN in 1968.
Along with the ASEAN Political-Security Community and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community, the concept of the AEC was born from the ASEAN 2025 adopted by the leaders of the ASEAN. According to the AEC blueprint 2025, part of the ASEAN 2025, the AEC rests on four pillars; a single market and production base; a competitive economic region; equitable economic development; and integration with the global economy.
The foundation of the AEC and its implication for South Korea
The ASEAN(Association of Southeast Asian Nations), the 7th largest economy in the world, seems quite noisy in the wake of the new year, 2017. Assassination at the airport of the capital city of Malaysia triggered huge fury from all over the world as the North Korean regime is suspected of the mastermind of the incident.
While Myanmar is under international criticism for the massacre of its minority group, Indonesia sees social conflict with controversy of the majority religious party’s alleged attempt to exercise influence on the political sector. 10 ASEAN members are faced with their own weighty political or diplomatic issues as mentioned.
High Time for Korean Startups to Ride on Digital Boom in Southeast Asia
This also holds true to Korean startups and venture capitals gearing up to carve out the Southeast Asian market. Local startup founders have made unanimous voices that success stories of mainland Chinese startups have inspired them a lot. It is a shame that Korean startups are rarely mentioned for role models of Southeast Asian young entrepreneurs.
Beginning with promising industries including fintech, education and mobile games, now is the right time for Korean startups to hit the digital road hard in Southeast Asia.
