The ASEAN Free Trade Area: the search for a common prosperity

During the 1992 ASEAN Summit Meeting, a historic decision was made to create an ASEAN Free Trade area over the next fifteen years. This was a milestone in economic co-operation within ASEAN. Global political and economic developments as well as factors internal to ASEAN made this decision possible. The task of expeditious implementation of AFTA poses major challenges, but AFTA itself augurs well for regional competitiveness.