Asean's virus dilemmaThe Covid-19 pandemic poses several challenges to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), intensifying regional poverty and inequality. The growing hardship will also pose a major threat to its economic integration. While the UN warning is acknowledged, the problem is not easy to solve, particularly when Asean is facing challenges shaking its economic integration. Established in 2015, the Asean Economic Community (AEC) is one of the three pillars of Asean striving for economic integration into a single market through the free movement of goods, services, investment and skilled labour. The question for Asean leaders is how to keep regionalisation and integration intact in the post-Covid-19 era in which transnational economic activities could change forever.

Source: Bangkok Post August 03, 2020 00:11 UTC