The ASEAN Community will officially take shape with three pillars in 2015: the Political-Security Community, the Economic Community and the Socio-Cultural Community. These pillars will be a milestone of regional cooperation in Southeast Asia. Importantly, Thailand, a one of ASEAN founders, has to prepare a strong foundation of three pillars for this regional grouping in term of institutions, rules, ideas, and so on.
In the regional level, ASEAN was proclaimed a Community through a Declaration signed by ASEAN Leaders at their 27th Summit in Kuala Lumpur on 22 November 2015. This is a historic development and important milestone in the evolvement of ASEAN since its founding in 1967. An ASEAN Community is the realization of the vision articulated eight years ago by ASEAN Leaders for the regional organization to achieve community status by 2015. The guiding document was the 'Roadmap for an ASEAN Community: 2009-2015' endorsed by ASEAN Leaders at their 14th ASEAN Summit in Cha-am, Thailand.
This recent issue is “ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead Together”, which was simultaneously endorsed by the Leaders at their 27th Summit, charts the path for ASEAN Community building over the next ten years. It is a forward looking roadmap that articulates ASEAN goals and aspirations to realize further consolidation, integration and stronger cohesiveness as a Community. ASEAN is working towards a Community that is 'politically cohesive, economically integrated, and socially responsible'. The ASEAN 2025 Document is the outcome of a year of planning and intense discussions, and reflects the determination of Member States to forge ahead with the next phase of ASEAN's evolvement.
Turning to consider Thailand, Kriengsak Chareonwongsak, a well-known Thai scholar and politician, commented that Thailand has more advantages than other ASEAN member states in several points:
1) Geographic location Thailand is located in the center of the region, with most of its borders connected to neighboring ASEAN countries.
2) Development level Thailand has a higher development level than most countries in the region with its basic universal education, big pool of skilled workers and highly qualified personnel, its thorough high quality public health, and developed infrastructure, especially roads. Moreover, Thai law, institutions and other facilities are reasonably well developed. Thailand’s baht currency is accepted by our neighbors in border trade transactions.
3) Size of the domestic market and la