Like post-independence America, ASEAN is a place with border disputes, no common currency, and weaknesses in education, infrastructure and environmental protection.
Yet with strong leadership and focus on improvements in the right areas, the bloc has a huge amount of potential to grow in the years to come.
Simon Tay, chair of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, said it will take at least five more years before the region starts operating as an integrated market.
“There is no big bang [coming in 2015], but it’s opening the door, and after a while people will start going through,” he said.
The full article is available at the Myanmar Times.
