Southeast Asian states copy EU single market model

Ten states in southeast Asia are due on Tuesday (20 November) to agree to a single market without trade barriers for goods and services, based on the same model as the European Union's 27-member internal market.

The move by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which is viewed by its initiators as an attempt to fend off economic pressure from China and India, should be followed by the creation of an economic community by 2015 with a similar institutional framework as the E...