The 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, are slated to form a common market next year that will provide a single production base and enormous consumer pool of some 600 million people.

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But even among those who should benefit most from integration – businessmen — few seem to know about the initiative, or care.

Omkar Shrestha, an officer of the Asian Development Bank and a visiting fellow at ISEAS, the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, says the goal of the Asean Economic Commumity (AEC) is to make Southeast Asia as attractive a market as China or India.

One of the editors of “The ASEAN Economic Community: A Work In Progress,” Mr. Shrestha spoke to journalists, economists and policy makers at the book’s launch at ADB headquarters in Manila.