Khairina Nur Amalina (14/366720/PT06802)

AEC (ASEAN Economic Community)

Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or the Association of Southeast Asian

Nations (ASEAN) is an organization of countries in Southeast Asia which was founded in
Bangkok, Thailand, on August 8, 1967 by the Declaration of Bangkok by Indonesia,
Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, AEC 2015 will be directed towards the
establishment of a regional economic integration by reducing trade transaction costs,
improve trade and business facilities, as well as improving the competitiveness of the SME
sector. To be able to play a role in the AEC, required preparation by taking into account the
opportunities and challenges facing owned and step strategy to be prepared.
Indonesia can market the product in the form of goods and services in ASEAN
countries freely without being tied to strict rules and bind again. With the AEC in 2015,
Indonesia has the opportunity to develop its economic potential to become a developed
country category, no longer a developing country. Improve bilateral or multilateral
relations of Indonesia with other countries of Southeast Asia in regional. Opportunities are
available from the AEC continues to face challenges that require special attention from the
government to support the success of Indonesia in the AEC.
Based on the 2013/2014 Global Competitiveness Report by the World Economic
Forum (WEF), the competitiveness of Indonesia is ranked 38th, while the quality of
Indonesia's infrastructure is ranked 82nd out of 148 countries or is ranked 5th among the
core countries of ASEAN. This shows that Indonesia's infrastructure is still far behind. The
impact of low infrastructure impact on the increasingly high cost of logistics in Indonesia.
Based on the Logistics Performance Index (LPI 2012), Indonesia ranks 59th out of 155
countries, ranked below Thailand, Philippines, and Vietnam. Data from ASEAN Productivity
Organization (APO) shows of Indonesian workers in 1000 there were only about 4.3% of
skilled, while the Philippines 8.3%, Malaysia 32.6%, 34.7%, and Singapore. SMEs are still at
the area less noticed by the government. The absence of assistance from the government to
standardize and internationalize SMEs local products, making it difficult to compete and
defeat SMEs on the local market.
The involvement of all parties in all ASEAN member countries is absolutely
necessary in order to realize the ASEAN as a competitive region for investment and free
trade, which in turn can provide benefits to all ASEAN countries. For Indonesia, the number
of population, area and geographic location, as well as the value of world GDP in ASEAN
should be an asset so that Indonesia could become a major player in the AEC 2015.