HÀ NỘI – A year since its inception, the ASEAN Community (AC) has gained encouraging achievements but also faces many challenges, heard a workshop held in Hà Nội yesterday. On December 31st 2015, the ASEAN Community was officially established with three pillars: the ASEAN Political and Security Community (APSC), the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC). Achievements were also made in defence and security co-operation with progress in advancing defence co-operation and promoting dialogue on defence and security matter. On one hand, it created motivation for the ASEAN Community to improve its competitiveness. Muhadi Sugiono, a Senior Lecturer from Universitas Gadjah Mada of Indonesia, an expert in ASEAN study, said almost one year after ASEAN Community was launched, most ASEAN people did not feel that there had been any change.

Source: Viet Nam News September 15, 2016 03:33 UTC