raises fears relating to immigration and cultural impacts. what then can be done to improve readiness for labor mobility thereby strengthening asean citizenship? for the benefit of further exploration, i would like to propose that we consider a threepronged strategy as part of a sustainable solution to this problem : first, we should try to reduce short and long - term obstacles to labor mobility. it is critical to recognize that greater labor mobility brings greater competition for local professionals. this means that, in the medium and longer term, the “ brain drain ” is usually offset by remittances and a “ reverse brain drain ”, which brings wealth, skills, experience, and their business and social networks back home. therefore, actions are needed to further enhance the free flow of labor through increased use of mutual recognition of professional qualifications. forging university and regional professional networks will surely be supportive of this endeavor. visa, work permits, and regulatory requirements on foreign employment are all important issues that need to be quickly addressed to ensure that the investment environment is competitive. over the longer term, i also see it as very crucial that we address obstacles to integration at the root cause, which is the weak integration mindset. this integration mindset means that we need to assess the benefits and costs of integration more deeply and strategize how they fit with the overall economic development plans of individual asean member countries. there are dangers in allowing such an important assessment to remain vague. my concern is that many key stakeholders of asean integration still view the aec with cynicism ; that life will go on, with few changes to the status quo. and this complacency is very dangerous because we may wake up and find that we are already too late to catch the rising wave of asean. distinguished participants, the second part of this three - pronged strategy deals with human capital development to meet global competencies. my personal opinion as a ceo in the financial industry is that we need people or our human resources in the next decade to be assertive, flexible, analytical and quantitative, technology competent, as well as having strong leadership, people skills, foreign language proficiency, and cultural awareness. ceos in other industries can add more qualifications to this list according to what they need to satisfy future business bis central bankers ’ speeches solutions. moreover, to promote mobility, our local talent competency should also aim for a better fit with regional and global competency. in the case of thailand, broad statistical profile points to above 50 percent share of education

non - tariff barriers, including subsidies, restrictions, and sensitive industry classification. and as of 1 january 2010, asean - 6 applied zero tariffs to 99 percent of goods, while the clmv countries plan to achieve the same goal by 2015. a unified trading region will facilitate development of production networks, bridge fragmented trade opportunities, and allow asean to become central to global supply chains. this model is supportive of asia ’ s new growth model of a regional production hub and increasing intraregional trade. moreover, it is a key development strategy for asean to ride with rising asia as part of an even bigger economic hub of asean + 3 and asean + 6. the + 3 include china, japan, and korea, with the + 6 expanding to cover india, australia, and new zealand. in addition to trade liberalization in goods, liberalization in services will also spur competition. this in turn would lead to lower prices and increased quality of services, as well as better transfer of know - how from outside and within the region, in areas such as business bis central bankers ’ speeches organization and management, and risk management capacity through foreign participation in financial services, for example. but, since services liberalization can involve short term adjustment costs, its progress has been subject to domestic regulations as a country ’ s institutional and regulatory environment needs to be strengthened before and during liberalization in order to reap eventual benefits. a single market and production base for asean cannot be complete without the free flow of skilled labor. it is also complementary to other freedoms, such as freedom of capital flows ( particularly fdi ) and services, and together they have important implications for productivity growth and investment. indeed, it is logical to expect that asean integrated business organizations would be more effectively run by regional than local managers. this is because regional managers have incentives to optimize the economies of scale and scope through the use of regional factors of production to achieve competitiveness. moreover, regional managers are likely to promote more regional - oriented investment, which means outward investment, direct as well as portfolio, from one local economy into other local economies within and outside asean. ladies and gentlemen, turning to the dimension of readiness, asean labor mobility pertains only to skilled labor at present. various country specific regulations continue to prevent completely free labor mobility. while greater mobility should yield substantial economic benefits especially for integration objectives, opponents of labor mobility tend to highlight the short term potential threats, particularly the “ brain - drain ” away from home countries. mobility also