April 30,2013 - The workshop was held on 29-30 April 2013 at the ERIA annex office, Jakarta.

More than 30 researchers from East Asia countries and ASEAN secretariat representatives attended the workshop. The ultimate goal of this workshop is to discuss and share the idea on how to move forward the ASEAN and AEC beyond 2015. This workshop is part of the large-scale project which is intended to follow up "the Jakarta Framework on Moving ASEAN forward toward 2015 and beyond", which was noted by the ASEAN Heads of State during the Bali ASEAN Summit in 2011.

The Jakarta Framework presents the broad framework of pathways for moving ASEAN and AEC beyond 2015. The explicated Framework is expected to provide some basis for the preparation of an action agenda for AEC beyond 2015.

During the workshop, the participants discussed wide range of topics which comprised of single market and production base, industrial cluster, SME development, trade facilitation, connectivity, investment climate, technology and innovation, food security, social safety net, as well as other relevant issues related to the aspects on how the AEC should move forward beyond 2015. The Executive Director of ERIA, Prof. Hidetoshi Nishimura, expressed his gratitude and highly expected that the participants could provide recommendation to support the progress of ASEAN and AEC beyond 2015.

This workshop has been successfully conducted and highly appreciated. The 1st workshop itself is planned to be conducted in two separate parts. The next part, which is the part 2 of the 1st workshop, will be held on 13-14 May 2013, at ERIA Annex Office, Jakarta. The 2nd (final) workshop is planned to be held in July 2013.