ERIA conducted the 3^rd Technical Meeting on the AEC Blueprint Mid-Term Review (MTR) Project on May 30^th - June 1^st, 2012 in Jakarta, Indonesia. The workshop was attended by approximately 45 participants including members of ERIA Research Institutes Network (RIN), ASEAN Secretariat, ERIA's consultants, ERIA's researchers and representatives from the Ministry of Trade of Indonesia and the private sector.

The main objective of the AEC MTR is to assess the implementation of the AEC Blueprint and put forward recommendations to ensure the timely implementation of the AEC Blueprint. The ASEAN Senior Economic Officials Meeting (SEOM) underlined the importance of the MTR project especially the recommendations for the way forward. Therefore, the 3^rd Technical Meeting focused on the policy recommendations on the way forward to achieve AEC in 2015.

The outcome of the Meeting was presented on the last day of meeting to H.E. Dr. Lim Hong Hin, ASEAN Deputy Secretary General for ASEAN Economic Community. He informed that SEOM looks forward to the recommendations of the MTR project, because most of them refer to the MTR project as the benchmark on what needs to be done to achieve AEC in 2015. Dr. Lim emphasized the need to prioritize on the various areas in the AEC Blueprint and to be as specific as possible on the recommendations.

Prof. Fukunari Kimura, ERIA's Chief Economist, in his concluding remarks conveyed ERIA's big appreciation to all the MTR Project contributors.  He also reminded the MTR Project team that AEC is not the integration process of developed countries, but integration of countries in different stages and levels of development. Thus, development issues are relevant in the MTR Project. In addition, the MTR needs to address how important liberalization is for ASEAN countries in order to achieve respectable economic integration and robust economic growth.

The results of the AEC Blueprint Mid-Term Review have been and will continue to be presented to concerned technical ASEAN bodies to generate further comments and suggestions from the ASEAN Member States and officials. The Final Report will be officially presented to the AEC Council when it meets during the ASEAN Summit in November 2012.

3rd Technical Meeting on the AEC Blueprint Mid-Term Review Project.pdf