ABSTRACT
The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is an endeavor to achieve regional economic integration across the 10 ASEAN member countries by 2020. The endeavor, spelled out in the AEC Blueprint, commenced in 2015. According to the ASEAN Secretariat (2008), “The AEC Blueprint will transform ASEAN into a single market and production base, a highly competitive economic region, a region of equitable economic development, and a region fully integrated into the global economy.” There are five core elements in the proposed ASEAN single market and production base (i.e. free flow of goods, free flow of services, free flow of investment, freer flow of capital, and free flow of skilled labour).
