ASEAN: perspectives on economic integration: ASEAN in Asia economic integration

Asia is one continent which has the most dynamic and the fastest developing economies in the world. But Asia’s economic integration is developing too slowly and stands at the lowest level in the world. Many factors have affected Asia’s economic integration but, in the current global financial and economic crisis, it is necessary to strengthen Asian countries’ cooperation in finance, investment and trade to promote Asia’s economic integration. As the healthiest and most integrated regional organisation in Asia, ASEAN should be the centre and platform to promote Asia’s economic integration. So we should enlarge financial cooperation among ASEAN, China, Japan, and South Korea. We could firstly discuss creating the Eastern Asia super-sovereign reserve currency so that we create an official currency of East Asian nations, the “Asian Dollar” or “Asi”. The purpose of creating “Asi” is to keep its value stable in the long term, and to improve Asia’s economic integration.