ASEAN blueprint for economic community completed

MANILA (AFP) - The blueprint for an integrated Southeast Asian economic community has been completed and must be implemented swiftly if the 2015 deadline is to be met, ASEAN economic officials were told Friday.

A declaration by the ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said they had "endorsed the final text of the ASEAN economic community blueprint" and is ready for signing by ASEAN leaders when they meet in Singapore in November.

"We settled the text today and we have the strategic scheduling," for the community to come into being, said Ong Keng Yong, secretary-general of ASEAN.