Enhancing ASEAN's Connectivity

Foreword

FOREWORD ASEAN is the only organization of its kind in the vast region that stretches from the Indian Subcontinent to the Kamchatka Peninsula. Geographically, it covers Southeast Asia, where there are more seas and islands than continuous land mass. In the past four decades, economic development and trade have flourished impressively amongst the ten ASEAN member states, culminating in a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of nearly US$2 trillion in 2011. Going forward, future economic growth and prosperity will depend on greater and improved connectivity not only within ASEAN, but between ASEAN and its trading partners as well. A well-connected ASEAN with good connections to the wider region will create a much larger and integrated market with more production and distribution networks. This will help to realize the full potential of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), as well as the various ASEAN Plus One Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), and the envisioned Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. However, the imperative for enhancing connectivity in ASEAN is not merely economic. More importantly, ASEAN is building a community from among the diverse nations of Southeast Asia. To do so, they must have mutual trust and understanding, and in turn develop greater cohesion and solidarity. If ASEAN remains separated by the mountains and seas, and if its people cannot interact easily with each other, the feeling of togetherness and the sharing of a common future cannot be forged and developed. More time and attention must therefore be given to one another, and it is through greater connectivity that this can be achieved. History is full of remarkable success stories about how diverse nations were connected to develop trade and other relations across vast distances. viii Foreword For example, the Roman Empire had more than 400,000 kilometres of roads, covering more than one hundred provinces around the whole of the Mediterranean Sea. Of these, 80,500 kilometres were paved roads, allowing the Roman authorities to reach a considerably extended territory. The different multiracial communities within the Roman Empire were able to leverage on each other’s strengths to expand economic activities, especially in trade. Another example would be the Persian Empire, which built roads and canals to link the land mass from the Persian Gulf to the Black and Mediterranean Seas. The most famous of these Persian construction projects was the “Royal Road” that stretched 2,700 kilometres, from the south-western part of present-day Iran to the north-western coast of Turkey. We also have the Mongols who effectively organized their transcontinental communications and connectivity through their unique “Yam” postal system, which stretched on land from the Pacific Ocean to Eastern Europe. In modern times, we have the Asian Highway Network developed by UNESCAP, which covers more than thirty-two countries across the Asian continent to Europe, and includes more than 140,000 kilometres of vehicular roads. Big countries like the United States of America and China have also built extensive road networks to connect their citizens over vast territories. In India, there are as many as 4.32 million kilometres of roads and highways, connecting the huge subcontinent as a unified state. ASEAN is of course not building any empire. What the ASEAN Leaders do wish to sustain is the economic competitiveness of their region, and to provide a strong foundation for continued peace and prosperity in Asia. History has taught us that connectivity is essential in this endeavour, and this can explain why the ASEAN leaders have embarked on the purposeful development of the necessary physical, institutional and people-to-people links to support ASEAN’s integration. The key to this concerted effort was the ASEAN Connectivity initiative, which was first endorsed by the ASEAN leaders in October 2009. This was followed by the landmark Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity that was formulated and adopted a year later. Today, the challenge for ASEAN is to implement the ambitious elements in this Master Plan. If we can accomplish a 50 per cent implementation of the Master Plan by 2015, ASEAN will already be well positioned for an unprecedented era of regional economic expansion and progress. In fact, individual pieces of physical infrastructure and frameworks are already in place, and what is urgently needed is to connect the Foreword ix respective existing facilities and projects. There is also the other challenge of reconciling the different mindsets and priorities of the different ASEAN member states, which thus far have...