ASEAN members urged to find common identity in AEC

BANGKOK, February 7 (TNA) - A senior Thai academic has suggested that member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) find their common identity for the sake of the solidated ASEAN in order not to look at each other as competitors. Dr. Prapat Thepchatree, Director of the Centre for ASEAN Studies (CAS) under Thailand's renowned Thammasat University, said in a special interview with TNA on Thursday that once the ASEAN Community or AC is formed, Thailand will not yet have a full trade liberalization, but facing impacts of free capital inflows due to a remaining gap between the rich and the poor in the Kingdom itself and between ASEAN member states in the initial stage. Dr. Prapat, thus, recommended that the 10-member ASEAN bloc soon find a common identity in order to plant their shared ASEAN spirit and not to look at each other as competitors. Dr. Prapat made the remarks on the sidelines of a seminar organized by the CAS, aimed to help prepare every Thai sector for the formation of the AC by 2015. (TNA)