On 15 April 2008, the ASEAN Studies Centre and the Regional Economic Studies Programme, both of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, organized a workshop on “The ASEAN Community: Unblocking the Roadblocks”. The first endeavour in which the new ASEAN Studies Centre was actively involved, the closed-door workshop gathered Southeast Asian experts on ASEAN for what was essentially a brainstorming session on the nature of the ASEAN Community that the association aspires to be, segmented into its three pillars — the ASEAN Economic Community, the ASEAN Security Community, and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community. The session examined the benefits expected from regional community building for the people of Southeast Asia and the obstacles that lay on the way to its achievement. The workshop suggested certain measures for removing those obstacles. It then discussed the newly signed ASEAN Charter: the significance of its provisions, how it could help build the ASEAN Community, and how it might fall short of doing so. The workshop also heard short briefing on the aims and functions of the ASEAN Studies Centre and proffered suggestions for it.

A list of the names and contact details of the participants are at the end of this report.

The report, the first in the ASEAN Studies Centre report series, begins with a brief account of the important points raised during the discussions, including the recommendations made. This is followed by short papers by Denis Hew, Hadi Soesastro and Eduardo Pedrosa on the ASEAN Economic Community and regional economic integration; Rodolfo C. Severino on the ASEAN Regional Forum; Carolina S. Guina on the proposed blueprint for the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community; and Locknie Hsu and Mely Caballero-Anthony on the ASEAN Charter.

It is hoped that the summary and the papers will help both policy-makers and the interested public in appreciating the benefits of a comprehensive regional community and what it would take to bring it about.

The 2008 ASEAN Roundtable, an annual event organized by ISEAS, will take place towards the end of July. Supported by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, it will examine in detail the blueprint adopted for the ASEAN Economic Community.