Civil service in a rush to prepare for AEC | Bangkok Post: opinion

THAILAND AND ASEAN

Civil servants are not immune to the ambitious plan of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to turn the region into a free-trade community in 2015.

The conventional wisdom is that only businesses will be directly affected in the next four years when the region opens up in full swing for competition from other Asean members, including the free flow of skilled workers across the 10 countries. In reality, the economic and business impact of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) forms only one of the three pillars under the scheme. The other two are the strengthening of contacts on security and political issues, and closer cultural and social affairs.

The Asean Political Security Community and the Asean Socio-Cultural Community will lead to close and frequent contacts between government agencies in the grouping. "Civil servants have to adjust themselves to prepare for the region to be one community," said Secretary-General of the Civil Service Commission (CSC), Nonthigorn Karnchanachitra.