ASEAN countries feared to fail at meeting economic goals: report

But here's quite a big catch.

It is a widely held view that ASEAN will fail to meet all its initial objectives in 2015, and a report noed that while this is true, it underappreciates the breadth of initiatives that have been attempted and progress made.

According to a research note from UBS, it agreed that the partial review of integration efforts above highlights that some were implemented but failed to get off the ground and also that others are a work in progress.

However, it also shows that a lot has been achieved, the report said.

Here's more from UBS:

Progress in ASEAN regional agreements sometimes comes as a surprise.

At ASEAN has a relatively weak co-ordinating body in the ASEAN Secretariat and lacks an institutional mechanism to force compliance with commitments - in large part because the member states fear a loss of sovereignty.

Because of this, as evidenced above, ASEAN agreements often allow member states to progress at different rates. Nonetheless, progress does occur because of peer pressure and the competitive nature of the region. We have often been told by government officials in one country that successful reforms in another – particularly in an AEC context – spur the same reform in the first country.

Moreover, not all the progress has been within the ASEAN Community framework.

Again, the ASEAN Economic Community initiative is a reflection of the pressures acting towards liberalisation and integration in the region, not a driver of it.