ASEAN-EU Regional Integration Coordination Between ASEAN and Essay

ASEAN-EU Regional Integration

Coordination between ASEAN and EU started in 1980 after the formulation of a cooperation agreement. The EU has twenty five member countries and engages in several multilateral trade cooperation and relations. The EU is influential because of its extensive economic cooperation with other regional organizations through trade agreements. It is also a central player in the world trade organization.

ASEAN is exemplary for demonstrating consistent excellence in improving and fostering peace, political stability and economic development among its member countries. Other strategies including regional integration have a central contribution towards the achievement of its ASEAN's vision 2020 (Das 139). ASEAN-EU Regional Integration, therefore, is of vast importance in enhancing development in Eastern Asia and Europe through trade.

Comparison between EU and ASEAN

The institutional orientation of the two, ASEAN and the EU, vary on grounds of their formation. Intergovernmental cooperation is the basis of the agreement among ASEAN nations. ASEAN is an intergovernmental organization. Decisions are on the basis of consensus among member countries' foreign ministers. There is no legal commitment that member countries have to fulfill consensus. However, there is an assumption that all members of the organization have a common political will to implement any consensus.

The institutionalization of the EU, however, is different from ASEAN. Decisions made are legally binding to the EU member nations since it operates through the community method. All matters of consensus agreed on being are due for full implementation. The organization reserves the right, through an order from a court of justice, to impose penalties on any member for failure to implement an accord. The difference in institutionalization between the two organizations is among the challenges facing integration.

Motivation and objective of forming the organization

Voluntary regional integrations emanate from motivation to attain social, political or economic objectives set by member nations. Countries from the ASEAN region focus on cooperation to boost trade as a solution to poverty reduction and development. This a major basis of their motivation to ensure the ASEAN-EU integration is successful. The EU is a notably successful regional integration for its high performance in the world economy.In addition, the EU has a single market and currency. ASEAN, therefore, identifies cooperation with the EU as an influential strategy in its mandate to boost trade and development. Cooperation with the ASEAN countries is an avenue that the EU can use to dominate the Asia-Pacific region. The urge to improve the international community's economic development was among the motivators of the ASEAN-EU integration project.

The integration project aims at enhancing prosperity in the Europe and Southeast Asia (Gugler and Chaisse 261). It has an objective of addressing issues of global concerns and challenges as climate change. Joint forums that bring together member countries are central in addressing global challenges, as well. It aims at tackling issues of international relations among the member countries of EU and ASEAN. International issues addressed through such forums are varied including political and socio-cultural concerns.

Way of development

Europe is of notable importance to the ASEAN region in boosting trade and investment. Operators in the EU region equally view the ASEAN region as a potential source of development and prosperity. The ASEAN region has long-term prospective for investments that the EU countries tend to target. This makes the two regions valuable through the diverse development avenues that exist in both of them. Through the organization, both the EU and ASEAN members gain mutual benefits and avenues to develop.

The integration has diverse ways of enhancing development in all the member countries of EU and ASEAN. A free trade accord, between the EU and ASEAN, would boost economic prosperity of member countries (Cheritel 67). The EU, through the free trade accord, intends to widen and extend its member countries' scope of coordination and cooperation in international trade. Indonesia and Malaysia are notable beneficiaries of a free trade accord among countries in the ASEAN region. The two, Malaysia and Indonesia, are prominent trade partners with countries from the EU region.

Globalization demands an enhanced cooperation between regional organizations for enhanced mutual awareness and harmonious operations. This justifies an ASEAN-EU integration. The organization presents an avenue for enhanced political and social relations that are fundamental….....