Comments by Sisira Jayasuriya, on Markets Matter: The Potential of Intra-Regional Trade in ASEAN and Its Implications for Asian Regionalism

Sisira Jayasuriya: This paper explores the potential for further deepening the economic integration process in Southeast Asia. The authors claim that the study is “novel as it aims to estimate market potential in a regional context and investigates its correlation with the process of regional integration.” It specifies an augmented gravity model covering the period from 1990 to 2013 and seeks to address the following issues: Is there still space for ASEAN to export more to the regional market? and How important is the ASEAN framework for Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to ASEAN from the perspective of ASEAN's export potential? The authors conclude that: there is much potential for expanding trade, particularly through RCEP; to improve its export potential, ASEAN should liberalize trade not only intra-regionally but also globally; and intra-regional trade liberalization will come mostly from reducing intra-ASEAN nontariff barriers in ASEAN, the harmonization of technical barriers, and...