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Singaporean FM: AEC not the same as European Union

The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), which is set to be established at the end of this year, will not be the same as the European Union (EU), said Singaporean Foreign Minister Shanmugam.
The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), which is set to be established atthe end of this year, will not be the same as the European Union (EU),said Singaporean Foreign Minister Shanmugam.

He said ASEAN memberstates differ greatly in terms of economic value systems, population,culture and living standards. Yet despite this, the AEC will be asignificant economic stimulus and the dynamics of the various memberstates could complement each other, he added.

Currently, ASEAN isthe 7th largest economic bloc in the world with a GDP amounting to 2.4trillion USD. It is growing at about 5 percent each year and is expectedto hit 4 trillion USD by 2020.

Shanmugam added that the AEC willnot incorporate free labour movement due to the lack of commonalitiesfor living standards and a common-value based system.

As ASEAN'ssecond-largest trading partner, the EU has a commercial focus in theregion and there is potential to form a more strategic partnership incombating cross-regional threats, the FM said.-VNA
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