 I've been working on ASEAN issues since 2012, back in Washington at the State Department, where we worked with the Office of Multilateral Affairs. And then I worked in Myanmar in 2014 in the first year that it served as chair of ASEAN. And then last year, I came here to Jakarta to serve as a deputy to the U.S. mission to ASEAN. It's a great place to be except for the traffic, but you know that. And I'm able to stay on for one more year to work on business issues here. If any of you are interested in innovation and the cool high-tech things that the U.S. has to offer, if you want to know a little bit more about U.S. business and economic opportunities that are available, let me tell you, you know, check out our website, which we just built ready for President Obama before he went to the NTN last month. It's usacianconnect.gov. I can give that to you. Novi Nalendra will have it as well for anybody who wants it. And anybody who's got questions, please let us know. But you're not here to listen to me. You're here to have a great discussion and conversation tonight. And you're about to hear from Mark Mealy, who is the Vice President for the U.S. ASEAN Business Council. Great guy. Really good talk. And I think you're going to enjoy it a lot. So with that, turn things over to the MC. Thank you so much, Mr. Aaron. And now I'd like to invite our moderator for this evening. Please help me welcome Putra Aditya. Thank you, Rima. Welcome, everyone, to the third YSEALY Digital Speaker Series. My name is Putra Aditya. I work at the U.S. Embassy Jakarta as YSEALY Coordinator. Has anyone here heard about YSEALY? Yes or no? So if you want to know more about what YSEALY is, you can find me after the event. You can find me or Nalendra or Novi, and we can answer your question all about YSEALY. So before that, I would like to say thank you for everyone from WIN. Give a big round of applause for you for coming all the way here and everyone from Budi Luhur University. And we also connected with our friends in Lincoln Center, Sarawak, Malaysia. Hello, everyone in Sarawak, Malaysia. So let's say it's an honor for us to be connected like this. And I think it's proven to me that we're separated by distance, but we're having a conversation right now. So it's a great pleasure for us to be able to attend this. Yes, thank you so much. So before we start this event, I would like to introduce my friend that will be here in the stage with me, Nalendra from U.S. Mission to ASEAN. Let's give a round of applause for Nalendra. And then I would like to introduce our speakers for tonight, Mark Milley. Mark Milley brings over 20 years of experience in international trade and economics to his role as Vice President Policy to the U.S. ASEAN Business Council. He has previous experience working for the United States Congress, serving as the International Economic and Foreign Policy Advisor to Congressman Gregory Meeks from New York and as a member of the professional staff of the House International Relations Committee. And prior to that, Milley was director of the Trade and Investment Program of the African American Institute. And he has also worked as the consultant for the foreign government and international development NGOs. He began his professional career and international economies with the International Trade Policy Division of USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service, where he managed some of USDA's largest community trade finance and food assistance program in Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe. So he will be one of the great speakers for tonight's theme about ASEAN Economic Community. So are we connected to Mark Milley yet? I hope so, yes. Okay. Hi, Mark. Hi, good evening, everyone. Good evening, Mark. So Mark is joining us right from Washington, D.C. So it's right, like, early in the morning now. Thank you for joining us this early. No, no problem. It's my pleasure. So without further ado, time is yours. Please, please welcome Mark Milley. Well, ladies and gentlemen in Jakarta and also in Sarawak, Malaysia, thank you so much for spending some time with me in your evening. I hope you've had a good day at work or at school. And as I begin my day here in Washington, I'm looking forward to a busy day. I also want to thank my friends at the U.S. government, the various U.S. embassies for giving me the honor to be part of this conversation with you all about the ASEAN Economic Community. As an economist and as someone that has been doing work in Southeast Asia, focused on Southeast Asia for almost 15 years now, I can definitely say that the efforts and the vision to really form the ASEAN Economic Community is very exciting and I think represents a tremendous opportunity for all of the citizens in all 10 countries in the ASEAN region. As someone who is an African-American, it's also been very, very exciting for me to say that I have actually been able to visit all 10 countries in ASEAN. I've had so many friends, whether they are in Cambodia or in Malaysia or in Singapore. And these are friendships that I know I really will have for the rest of my life. And hopefully one day I'll even begin to be able to bring my children to visit friends and have the same kinds of experiences that I've had. Before I jump into my remarks about the ASEAN Economic Community, I want to frame them in the following sort of three contexts or three ways that I think we might have a good conversation about what is the ASEAN Economic Community. I think the first context that I would offer is that we are in the period for every citizen in the world of great change. And one of the fundamental, I think, challenges that we all face, whether you're old like me or whether you're a student, is how you go about to sort of navigating processes of change that are going on in your life. I think the second context is important to think about this ASEAN Economic Community in terms of really what's the vision that has been talked about by the leaders of the 10 countries and the policy makers and business leaders and really why is the ASEAN Economic Community so important for ASEAN countries now. And then lastly, I think it's important that we spend a little bit of time talking about some of the challenges, some of the opportunities. And really what are some of going to be the key things going forward in order for this vision of creating an ASEAN Economic Community to really become a reality. So let's start with the first context, and that is navigating change. I think it's very safe to say for all of us, no matter where you are in the world, that here in the 21st century, because of technology and innovation, increasing at an even an increasingly sort of faster rate, the processes of globalization, increasing how we're all connected and really becoming much more of an integrated world is really a sort of a fact of life. When we think about the advancements in transportation, where basically distances are now much shorter, I know it still takes me about 17 to 18 hours to fly from the United States to Bangkok, but I can imagine how much more time it took 10 to 15 years ago if I were going to be trying to travel from the United States to Singapore. And obviously, again, the time is much faster now. I think we think about the way technology has really sped up everyone's ability to get access to information. And I know in one of the things that's very, very unique about ASEAN countries is that people in Indonesia and Malaysia and Singapore, these people that I know, not only have one hand phone, but sometimes two or even three hand phones, it's almost incredible to see the rapid usage of mobile devices for so many different elements of life, including just talking to friends but also getting information. I think we also think about how many of the sort of historical ways or recent ways of how sort of things are done, whether they're done by government or whether they're done by businesses or all kind of being disrupted and changed by, in a sense, because of innovation and technology. I think we all know that, you know, when I was a young person, if I was going out with my mom or dad, you know, we would obviously, if we didn't have a car, we would look for a taxi. You flash forward to then today's world. And if you're going someplace, you might grab an Uber or a grab taxi via your hand phone. So the old ways of sort of doing things are in a sense changing even what we're doing right now, having this conversation, you know, using the Internet to have basically an audio and video conversation is a reflection of how the old ways of maybe using a telephone call or some other type of, you know, communication device have changed very quickly. And I think this navigating of change and also understanding that while change is perpetual, it's inevitable. I think it's also important to remember that not all change is equal or the same for everyone. So even as if someone like myself or my children have to navigate a changing world, I must understand and I always encourage my children to understand that our ability to how we deal with change may not be the same for other people who have to navigate those same changes. And I think that's really an important context when I think about this sort of the ASEAN and its moment in history and this vision of an ASEAN economic community. Because sometimes I find when I'm talking to people about this question of, you know, whether, you know, you're connected to the global economy or whether if you're in Indonesia, are you connected to the regional economies in Asia? Sometimes it's maybe difficult to see that the simple answer is we're all increasingly connected. You may not always understand the ways that we are connected. How something that may go on in China may affect us in, you know, Indonesia or something that may go on in Singapore may affect us here in the United States. I think that's a reflection of, again, how we are very much integrated in a world today. I think what really matters, though, is not so much how you as an individual, whether it's your school or your business or your nonprofit organization. There's not so much a question of if you are connected or not. It's a question of how you are connected to these parts of the world that may be outside of your own country. And increasingly, what kinds of things can you do as an individual or even as a society to shape how you are connected to the world over time? Because it's not a static process. This is a very dynamic, perpetual motion kind of question here. How Indonesia is connected to ASEAN today may be very different to how Indonesia's society is connected to ASEAN 10 years from now or 20 years from now. So it's really about how the societies are being linked. That's very important. And I think fundamentally what we are really seeing that really shapes how individuals, businesses, societies are connected, how they are connected. Oftentimes, it completely boils down to many things. But I think where we oftentimes start with is education. Education is sort of the catalyst for shaping how you as an individual or your school or your society can be connected to the world. And I think increasingly many societies, including us here in America and I know in the region, we're in a period where education also has to begin to go through sort of a transformative process in order so that you as young people and students and even as adults, if we're going back to school to learn new skills, the skills that we need to learn are in terms of sort of these global competences, these skill sets that we need to really acquire and develop in a more internationalized and connected world. And I mentioned three such skill sets. Number one, really being able to value and appreciate cultural differences because in a more connected world, we're going to find ourselves interacting with people with different cultures, different religions more and more. Being able to process digital information in a critically manner is also going to be a very important skill set, whether you're a young student today or whether you're an adult and you have to go back to school, maybe to learn a new skill, being able to manipulate digital information is a critical global competence. And lastly, I think being able to understand sort of the complexities of how markets are coming together and cultures are really being exchanged. I think it's another important skill set that will enable all of us to be better at navigating change. So that's the first context. Now, let's talk about more about the ASEAN Economic Community. I was glad that you started off this conversation about sort of do people have a clear sense of what really is ASEAN? And again, I feel very, very fortunate that I've been able to visit all 10 countries which make up the ASEAN region. But I've also discovered from many, many friends in the region that not everyone has had those kinds of opportunities. Not everyone has been to, you know, going to Vietnam or visited Laos or been to Myanmar. And yet they all, all these societies make up ASEAN. I think it's a fair place to start is what really is the vision that the leaders of the 10 countries have articulated about this ASEAN Economic Community or this AEC? I'll highlight a couple of ideas or a couple of points, I think, which capture that vision. The first one is there's a clear sense that the vision of creating the ASEAN Economic Community made up of these 10 nation states is not, I repeat, not to try to recreate the European Union. I think there's a very clear understanding by the leaders of ASEAN that ASEAN cannot mimic or be a carbon copy of what other groups of countries have tried to create for themselves. ASEAN must create its own economic community based upon its own cultures and histories and the wishes and desires of its peoples and its companies and other stakeholders. That's the first thing. Secondly, there's a vision that the AEC will help these 10 countries to become what we would consider a globally competitive single production base. By that, the vision is ASEAN, if it's a functioning economic community, would create opportunities for companies large and small to be able to create goods and services in any of the 10 countries and it would not really matter where that particular activity takes place. And more importantly, in today's more integrated world, larger companies, whether they're large ASEAN companies or larger global companies, would be able to locate different aspects of their business in different ASEAN countries, but all have them connected together. So that's the idea of making the region a single production base. Third vision, to make the 10 countries together as an economic community to really be Asia's number one regional economic hub. So in other words, for the other big economies, whether they be China, Japan, Korea, the 10 ASEAN countries together as part of the AEC would be a significant regional hub for all of the Asia Pacific and really for all of the world. Fourth, to really create a regional marketplace for consuming and producing goods and services. And here what we would say is that if you're a business person or you're an entrepreneur and you make a product in Indonesia and if your product meets all of the required regulations or standards for health and safety in Indonesia, the ASEAN economic community would allow you as a business person to then to be able to sell your product in the other nine ASEAN countries. If there is an agreement that if you meet the standards in Indonesia and the standards are the same for all 10 countries, you would be able to much easier be able to sell your product in the other nine ASEAN countries. So in a sense, the AEC has a vision of trying to create regional standards, regional regulations, regional rules. So if you follow them in one country, it applies for you and the other nine countries. Fundamentally, the vision of the AEC is really about trying to create the freer. And I use the term carefully. I don't mean free. I mean free earth, the cross border movement of goods, services, investment, capital, professional or skilled labor. And one of the other things that the Americans tend to talk a lot about in Southeast Asia is the importance of the freer movement of data and information across borders. Kind of like what we're doing right now by having this basically this video conference across three different countries. These are some of the key things that I think make up the vision of the ASEAN economic community that the leaders and other stakeholders will hope to try to build and become a reality over the next 10 years. Some of the key pillars and we can come back to these during our conversation that are really fundamental for this vision to become a reality include things like the ASEAN single window, which is an initiative that focuses on the customs processes to allow goods to move across borders from one country to another. The ASEAN connectivity master plan, which is a plan to really deepen the way people and information can move within the ASEAN region and across borders. I think I would say that the greatest achievement so far in really enabling the greater people to people connectivity amongst the 10 countries is the great work that my good friend Tony Fernandez, the CEO of Air Asia, has done in ASEAN to make it actually much easier and much cheaper for ASEAN citizens to fly to various countries around the region. And that's really, I think, one of the more tangible achievements of ASEAN so far. Some of the key institutions to really help achieve this ASEAN economic community are, of course, the ASEAN secretariat in Jakarta, but also other institutions like the ASEAN Infrastructure Fund, an entity that's based in Kuala Lumpur that has been set up by the 10 countries to make investments in things like roads, transportation, rail and other types of projects again to help connect ASEAN countries to each other. So that's part of the vision, I think, of the AEC. Some of you may ask the question, well, you know, why do we need, why do we in ASEAN countries need an AEC? Like why is this important for us now? Why should we be focusing on this? Why should we care about this initiative? I think it's the first and foremost answer is you start with the idea that each ASEAN country, of course, you know, has its own unique culture and history, particularly in terms of development, in terms of politics. And as was stated earlier, the idea of ASEAN trying to bring these 10 countries together to share sort of a common future. Part of the success of that future is not just simply what the 10 countries do with each other together, but it's also how these 10 countries are also part of the whole entire world. And I think it is safe to say that the ASEAN as a region is already connected to the world, already plays an important role in the global economy. As many of you know, many global companies have businesses, have operations in various ASEAN countries. And therefore, you as ASEAN citizens are playing a critical role in the global world today. I think what the leaders of ASEAN have recognized, though, is that as the world continuously changes in order for ASEAN countries to continue to play an important role in the global economy, it's going to be very important that the 10 countries create a more of a regional economic community. And in a sense, the 10 countries as individual countries over time might not be as able to create the kinds of opportunities that it wants to create for its citizens, for its young people, because the world is changing. And in order to keep pace with the way the world is changing, ASEAN needs to come together as a community. So this goes back to that question I said. It's not a question of if you are connected to the world, you already are connected to the world. The real question is how you are connected to the world in ways that allow your societies to benefit from these connections. From the name of the sheriff, you just a couple of points about from the American point of view, why ASEAN is important and why this ASEAN economic community vision and initiative is something which actually is attracting a lot of attention around the world today. So from a global business or investor perspective, there's a tendency to look at ASEAN as a region in terms of the number of people that make up the region. So if you combine the populations of the 10 countries, you're talking about a region of over 600 million people. That is a very big number of people. And more importantly, what really makes ASEAN so interesting to global companies and global investors is that of that 600 million people, the majority of the 600 million are people under the age of 30. And for the perspective of global investors or global companies, that means ASEAN has a very young population, people that are going to be going into the workforce, going to be having children one day, going to school, living on their own apartments, buying cars, buying more hand phones as they get older. So that's what makes ASEAN very, very interesting. If you combine the 10 economies of ASEAN together, you're talking about a region that has a combined GDP of over 2.5 trillion US dollars. That's a very big number. That's bigger than any of the individual economies in Southeast Asia, and it really attracts the attention of why ASEAN and AEC is very important. So this notion of ASEAN countries saying, we want to come together and form an economic community, that's also very much the other side of the coin in terms of we want to form an economic community that is still also very globally connected to the rest of the world. Sometimes there is a misperception that ASEAN wants to come together as an economic community to sort of close itself off from the rest of the world. We would say, no, ASEAN wants to come together as an economic community so that it can be actually more powerful in terms of how it is connected into the global economy. One thing, of course, that we also must keep in mind as this process, as this vision tries to move forward. As the ASEAN economic community evolves, as it becomes a catalyst for change, processes of change in individual countries, we must always remember that in any process of change, particularly economic change, there can be both winners, but also there can be both losers in these processes of change. There can be segments of society that really benefit the most from the process of change, and there can be segments of our societies that maybe don't benefit as much from the process of change. So one of the things that's going to be very, very critical for the success of really forming the ASEAN economic community is how do governments, businesses, non-profit organizations, the education sector, how do they help make sure that those who maybe don't benefit as much from these processes of change are supported and helped so that they don't feel that they are left behind? And that's a dynamic that is going to be very important to watch both between countries in ASEAN and also inside each ASEAN country that's going to be very, I think, important element of the AEC process. Let me turn to another, I think, really important question, and that is, well, why does this whole ASEAN economic community vision matter? What could it really mean for your individual life? Because I think at the end of the day, we oftentimes have to ask ourselves that question, well, is this, is my government helping to create this ASEAN economic community? Is that going to be good for me or good for my children or good for my village? I think the answer is fundamentally, yes, coming together as a community, I think, is really going to be a great catalyst for really increasing the kinds of options that the citizens of ASEAN will have in terms of work, in terms of life, and even in terms of, you know, recreation and play, so to speak. As I mentioned, the work that Air Asia done to really connect and make it easier to travel within the region, I think, is a great example of what coming together has really enabled or really generated in terms of how it impacts you as an individual, what it could really mean. I think, as I mentioned before, coming together as a region is already attracting more of the world's attention to each individual ASEAN country, more so than any individual ASEAN country could attract on its own. You know, when the 10 ASEAN presidents and prime ministers came to America earlier this year to meet with President Obama, one of the conversations which the 10 leaders of ASEAN had were with the CEOs of some really well-known global companies like IBM and Microsoft, and one of the messages that those CEOs shared with the 10 leaders of ASEAN was this. They basically said, right now, we as global technology companies that are, you know, doing business all over the world, investing all over the world, training people all over the world, we are very interested in the countries of Southeast Asia. We think that the countries of Southeast Asia represent some of the most dynamic and cutting edge and exciting places to be and do business and young people that are interested and hard working and really are trying to potentially become great inventors one day. And those CEOs shared though with the presidents and prime ministers that in order for the 10 countries of Southeast Asia to continue to attract the attention of global companies like a Microsoft, like a Google, like an Airbnb in Facebook, it's going to be increasingly important for the 10 ASEAN countries to come together and to help to put in place regional rules and frameworks and policies that really shape how global technology companies do business. And in a sense, the real message was, Southeast Asian countries have a great window of opportunity today. It's an opportunity that won't exist forever. And I think that's really the importance of why the ASEAN economic community can really have a tremendous impact on the lives of so many people and all the citizens of the region. I want to be cognizant of our time to really also have a conversation. So with the, if the moderator would like, I can pause here and perhaps we can begin some of the conversation and continue to discuss some of the key issues of the ASEAN. Thank you, Mark, for a very thorough and detailed and informative session. So now we're going to move on to the question and answer session. We would like to start with our live audience here in Latin America. So any questions from here, from Nguyen or from Boudi Luhur? Any questions? Yeah, we have one question. Yeah, we have one question over there. Can you please stand up? Good evening. My name is Haps Oro from University of Boudi Luhur. First, I would like to ask maybe Mr. Ehren could also answer this particular question. Mr. Milley mentioned earlier that the changes we're aiming for, the benefits, some will feel that benefits as in actually good benefit and some might not. I'm going to take it as a, I'm going to say that a little bit more blunt that say by benefit not as much that some people might actually suffer from those changes. So I would like to ask what exactly what that kind of change are we aiming for here and what exactly is the US role in this relationship? Because I think it's safe to say that even US on its own has a comparable political power than the whole of Asia to ask. Maybe Mr. Ehren or Mr. Milley could answer me. What exactly is the United States of America's plan in this relation? Maybe a little bit of advising or something a little bit more hands on approach? I think that's all. Thank you very much. Thank you. So yeah, and we can give a round of applause. So maybe we would like to ask Mark. Sure. I think I answer for the question about what change are we aiming and what are the US role in as an economy community exactly is. Sure. I think that the leaders of ASEAN are aiming for change that the AEC will help ASEAN countries to continue to be one of the most attractive places to do business and to make investments in the world today and in Asia. I think there's a there's a change is that that the leaders recognize are that many countries in ASEAN have done fantastic work at promoting economic growth and socioeconomic development for many, many years. Leaders, however, recognize that as the world has continued to change, the policies, the efforts that have been made in the past to support economic development in ASEAN may not be as successful in the future because the world in the future is different from the past. Hence, the feeling is by forming the ASEAN economic community. That will be something which will help ASEAN countries to continue to be successful in investing and in development as the world continues to change, because let's understand one thing very, very clearly. In the 20th century, countries like Malaysia and Singapore were very successful in promoting development in their countries. Thailand, Vietnam have also been successful in promoting development in their countries. But 20 years ago, China was a much smaller global economy. Twenty years ago, India was a much smaller global economy. So the question then becomes in today's world, which is now very different and in terms of Asia because of the growth of China and India. The same kinds of things that countries did in the past are likely not to be as successful in the future. That is why the leaders have felt creating the ASEAN economic community can be something very, very helpful. And lastly, I wouldn't comment on what the U.S. government has done or what U.S. government role has played, but I will say this. The U.S. business community, because of its many, many years of also being a big investor and participant in various ASEAN countries, very much supports this vision of creating the ASEAN economic community. So the U.S. business community has been helpful in terms of supporting certain projects, helpful in terms of helping support the ASEAN secretary to do its work as examples of a positive role and partnership role that the U.S. business community has sought to play. I'll stop there. Okay, thank you, Mark. I would like to also ask Pa-Erin, do you have anything to add for that question? Thank you. I agree completely with everything that Mark just said and believe that it's entirely correct that the activities that countries have done in the 20th century to succeed may not necessarily be the same activities that are going to lead to success now here in the 21st century. Mark mentioned the leaders' meetings with President Obama in California this past February in Sunnylands. And that was a conscious decision that we made talking with the folks at the White House is that for the discussions with the ASEAN leaders, we wanted to do something that we thought would be meaningful for them. And so we wanted to talk about what kinds of, what kind of role the United States could play to help this region continue in its remarkable trajectory of success over the past decades and make sure that continues. What came to mind with us at U.S. ASEAN and the mission here, and we recommended this to the White House and they agreed was that we should have our private sector partners, in this case it was with CEOs from IBM and Microsoft and Cisco come into that meeting to give the private sector perspective on the conditions that make it more possible for the kinds of positive change to take place. Conditions that create an enabling environment for innovation and for ownership because we have found that when we as a government go in and have that conversation with our government counterparts, they do listen, but they typically when we say it in conjunction with our private sector partners. So we wanted to do that from the very beginning. And a lot of what we do in terms of trying to support the region is done in that way. You that are USAID, U.S. Agency for International Development is working with the U.S. ASEAN Business Council to create the an online SME Academy that's a small meeting enterprise support. And it's a where information is available for folks who want to you're interested in starting up their own business who are looking for what kind of resources might be available to them and just have particular questions because the pain that we in governments aren't gonna be in a position to really give it to you. What we can do is provide the tools and the information for you to figure out how to best address that yourself. That kind of thinking is behind the thought process for me in my new job working as the director we're going to try to do our best to make sure that information and resources about what the U.S. is doing is available to you. But we don't push for a particular industrial policy. The U.S. doesn't have that. And we think that the best we can do is as much as possible, get out of the way and let businesses do what they can to succeed. Let them innovate and come up with the cool new toys so that show up in my son's making me buy them for Christmas this year. Thank you Pa Aaron. So that's the question from Jakarta. Now we're going to ask our friends in Sarawak, Malaysia. Do we have any questions? Yeah. Thank you Mark. So we have a question right here from Mr. Japri who works for the State Library here. You'll ask the question himself. Thank you. Mark, thank you very much for sharing some very enlightening information with us. Being the citizens of ASEAN, we are very much interested in these topics. I think in the process of getting together, keeping together and also working together, the European Union has been going through this process a lot longer than the ASEAN community. But still they have issues like Greece and then also the recent Brexit is something that is not really positive towards the cooperation that they have in the European Union. How do you see these happenings affect the ASEAN economic community being a very young economic community? We just started last year at the end of last year. This is not even up to the second year. If there is anything that you should learn, especially you, because they will become the leader then when we have maybe another Brexit year. Yes. I don't know what it is. But what should we be sensitive about if we are to be leaders tomorrow? Yes. To be more successful than the European Union. Thank you. No, I think that your question is, Your question is an excellent one. And that's why I have always been very, very happy when I talk to, when I get the opportunity to hear ASEAN leaders always remind their American friends that the vision of the AEC is not true to try to copy the European Union. In Sarawak, Malaysia, like looking back at what happened in European Union and then what happened with their member countries, with what happened in Greece, what happened with Brexit, and then as ASEAN community as the young, newly formed community, like what should we learn from that? And what should we take from the community and the European Union? But have any answer for that, Byron? I can try that one, but that's a really good question for which I think people who get paid a lot more than me are trying to come up with an answer. Thankfully, Mark is back. So he'll come up with something better and then whatever I can cobble together here. But I would refer back to what Mark said earlier about change. And what you're seeing in the European Union definitely it has existed longer and has been a great success in quite a number of ways. It started as the European coal and coal and steel community and was eventually they called it the common market. And then it went beyond that. And that was something that the countries in Europe decided was important for their own stability and prosperity. With change that has taken place in the last 10 to 15 years, some elements in society in Europe have benefited greatly from that pace of change and some less so. Like Mark said, the disruption that are taking place there are winners as things change and there are some that don't win quite so readily. And the sense among elements in society there is that things haven't turned out exactly the way they want. You're seeing some of that actually in the United States. There are elements in US society that do not feel that the benefits that have taken place with globalization have penetrated all of society equally. So ASEAN leaders are... Lost Jakarta. That was ASEAN people as possible. Okay, there we go. I would say that they're taking these lessons to heart. I know last year at the ASEAN Day festivities here in Jakarta at the secretariat, Vice President Kala said that... He said, and not really as a joke, he said, we're not the European Union and we don't want to be. So they're paying attention. Okay, thank you, Pat. So see the slide. Can I have one final question? Mark, do you have anything to add for that question? What should we learn from EU? Yes, thank you. I think that the most, if there's one important lesson to learn from the EU process, I say there's two important lessons for ASEAN can learn. One's a positive one and one is a negative one. The positive lesson to learn from the European Union process is the importance of developing regional institutions that really are given a mandate by each of the member states to really do things on behalf of the region and behalf of all 10 countries. That's one thing which I think is a positive lesson from the European Union. It is something which still needs to be worked on in terms of the ASEAN process to create an economic community. The one, and there are many negative ones, but the ones, if I had to point out one single negative element of the European Union process and the lesson that ASEAN must learn is that over time, the Union, the coming together to form a community will not be sustainable over time if during the formation of the Union and the continuation of the Union, you have significant unequal levels of development amongst the member countries. That unequaleness in terms of levels of development among the member countries must be reduced in a focused and targeted way over time in order for the ASEAN economic community to be sustainable over time. I think that's one mistake which our friends in Europe did not effectively address because if you look at the countries of the European Union like a Germany and you compare the economy of Germany with the economy of Greece, one country makes BMW automobiles, one country exports olives. There is a significant economic imbalance between those two countries to be quote-unquote considered equal members of the Union and that imbalance when it went on for too long generates, I think, some real structural problems. That's my own opinion. But I think that's one important lesson for ASEAN. Okay, thank you, Mark. So we're going to have last question and this time we have online questions. So we have online question from Sam in Cambodia who says in Cambodia particularly, the gap between the rich and the poor is large and between those youth who have quite different opportunities to access higher education. So how can we help them to engage in society to develop the country's economy? I think that question from our friend in Cambodia goes to the heart of my last point in the sense that within ASEAN as we know there are some countries that are more developed than some of the other neighboring countries. My suggestion would be that as the ASEAN countries continue to try to move forward in building the ASEAN economic community, there must be a focused effort in terms of investments, in terms of opportunities put in place for those ASEAN countries which are currently less developed. So Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar as the three least developed countries. ASEAN countries are more developed than ASEAN countries. ASEAN cannot simply have or think that the benefits of the ASEAN will trickle down to Cambodia, Laos, and to Myanmar. I think history has shown that the trickle down effect is not sustainable. It must be a conscious, planned, strategic decision to support the development of the less developed countries in ASEAN for the benefit of the ASEAN economic community and education opportunities would be one's areas of focus. Okay, so we have another online questions. This time from Rashid Mahmood who is watching on Facebook says the AAC deployment has been criticized for being too slow from observers. What's your comment on that, Mark? I think there are some observers who have made the argument both outside of ASEAN but even also inside of ASEAN. I know some members of the business community in ASEAN have felt that the process has been moving too slow. I think at the end of the day the pace of the process of the process of change has to be one which can be supported and sustained both politically as well as economically. And I think that's going to be again a continued challenge for the region to really make sure that there is enough of a consensus to really try to move forward in ways that can offer benefits for everyone. And as we all know in the ASEAN way countries have been allowed that are ready to move faster, can move faster. Countries that need more time to build capacity or need technical assistance are allowed to move slower. I think that is an important tool for ASEAN to utilize going forward. So actually Rashid Mahmoud has a follow-up question on that. That ASEAN countries still see each other as a competitor in terms of inbound investment and jobs. In your opinion what should we do as a region to become less of a competitor and more of a collaborator? I think Rashid is hitting on some very important fundamental questions and that's why having this kind of conversation with myself here in America and our friends in Malaysia and you in Jakarta is so important. I personally think fundamentally the citizens of the 10 countries of ASEAN have to really look in the mirror and ask themselves how do you really identify yourself? How do you really see yourself in your nation, in your region and in the world? I think it's very, very important for ASEAN citizens to understand that right now your 10 countries as a region are really significant in the world in a sense know your power that comes from being a group as opposed to your sense of being individual persons or simply individual countries. I think at the end of the day it's going to be really important for young people to really engage their governments, their parliaments and congresses and really talk about what really is your vision for the kind of society you want to be in in the future because the future really is your life it's really your reality and I think the challenge that young students will have is not so much to say this is the kind of country we want to live in but to be able to say what will it take to really create and support and sustain the kind of society that you say you want to live in when you go from being a younger person to an older person because the future really is it's your life it's your reality and I think that's the kind of question that I think the online person on Facebook is kind of getting at for all the citizens of ASEAN. Okay, so one last question from our audience Sarawak do we have questions? Sarawak do we have questions? I'm very excited to hear Mark continue his speech Okay At the Medical we have one question over there Hello, good afternoon everyone My name is Rave, I'm from Wudiluru University and I'm asking about that ASEAN is in your opinion is there any change that ASEAN economics will top over other ASEAN's economics? Thank you so much Very good question I think it's very possible that ASEAN has the potential to become one of the world's leading economies and I'll tell you for a couple of reasons Number one, we've seen in the last five years some significant increase in the amount of research and development and the development of patents and inventions coming from ASEAN countries and that's a key for long term economic success and development Number two, ASEAN countries are now becoming some of the most attractive countries in the world in attracting entrepreneurial investors who really are thinking that the future possible Google's and Microsoft's and Facebook's are going to be created by entrepreneurs in ASEAN countries If many of you have heard of the investment group 500 startups which is an American investment company that is making investments in entrepreneurs in Malaysia Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam the Philippines the reason why they are making those investments in these entrepreneurs is because they are seeing the intelligence the hard working and the vision of some of your fellow citizens and the potential to really create some of the world's next great companies I think if the AEC vision can become a reality where instead of individual countries it's really 600 plus million people who are able to live and to work and to play in a more freer environment that will really I think help ensure ASEAN does become that global success that it has the potential to be Thank you Mark, so that's the end of the question and answer session unfortunately we have to wrap up because of the time I know the discussion getting more interesting and interesting but Mark what do you want to say as the closing remarks from our discussion Well first of all again let me thank everyone in Jakarta and also in Malaysia for spending your evening with me let me just close by saying what I would say are the key challenges and what I believe are the keys for the success of the AEC going forward I think number one there needs to be and it's a challenge there still needs to be more participation in shaping the AEC from broader aspects of society the AEC cannot be created by the ten governments alone it has to be created by businesses entrepreneurs SMEs companies have to have a bigger role in shaping the AEC number two and I say this to our friends in Indonesia I personally and many observers feel that because of Indonesia being the largest country in ASEAN the success of the AEC will be greatly affected by the degree that Indonesia and Indonesia societies and Indonesia citizens believe and support the creation of the AEC there can't be a globally powerful AEC if Indonesia is not a key partner helping to create it and then lastly I would say that of the keys to the success I would point to one of them that as Ian mentioned Aaron mentioned the important role for small and medium size enterprises in all ten ASEAN countries their ability to grow and develop and to begin to do cross-border activities will go a long way in ensuring the ASEAN economic community the ASEAN economic community cannot just only benefit the large ASEAN companies it must also create more opportunities for the small and medium size enterprises that exist in all ten countries because they are the greatest source of job creation and they play the role of the suppliers to the bigger companies and they are the ones who will have the greatest development impact from the creation of the economic community in ASEAN so I leave folks with that again and really want to thank you all for spending time with me this evening Thank you Mark please give her on of applause for Mark Mark has been saying that the key important roles YSEALY is all about YSEALY is a platform for young leaders for all ten ASEAN countries to meet and share their interests and what they want to do for the region and in YSEALY we have like four big teams entrepreneurship and economic development education environment and civic engagement which actually round up all the aspect that we want to have in this region so by joining YSEALY you can meet with other young leaders in your country that you might not never see without joining this platform and also have someone from other countries in ASEAN that usually we only learn from our school that we have a neighboring country in Laos in Myanmar but by YSEALY we can really connect with them and then really talk about participation and building an ASEAN identity and make a successful ASEAN economy community so that's it the YSEALY digital speaker series for the third time with ASEAN economy community we will have another YSEALY digital speaker series in two weeks for running a successful campaign so if you guys want to join you can come back to America and check out our YSEALY social media platform so that's it from me and I would like to give it back to At America please give a round of applause for everyone here thank you Malaysia