In an interview with the media, Colin Willett, the US Department of State’s deputy assistant secretary in the East Asia and Pacific Bureau, said that the US-led initiative puts together a “whole of government” approach to economic engagement for businesses from both sides.

“This will give US businesses more centralised information about Asean and provide them access to US assistance to Asean.

“But it also gives Asean a place to learn more about the US not just in terms of investment but in areas such as export financing and insurance,” Willett said at The Radisson Hotel.

Willett was in the country for meetings with Brunei’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MoFAT) to discuss various issues.

She said that the US-Asean Connect initiative, which was launched in February 2016 during the Special US-Asean Summit in California, is also another channel for Asean to interact with the US government which had been actively involved in the developments of regional economic integration.

She added that a ‘connect centre’ has been set up in Jakarta followed by more centres in Singapore and Bangkok.

In terms of trade, Willett said that there has been a lot of interest coming from US businesses to come into Southeast Asia due to the potential benefits of having a connected regional economy under the AEC.

However, she said more work needs to be done to show how it would affect businesses.

“I think there are still some questions on what the AEC means for international investors and I think that people are still looking at what the AEC means for them.”

Willett said that the interest is also partly because of the TPP, a trade deal among 12 Pacifc Rim countries of which Asean states Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam are members of.

“When it comes to TPP implementation, we’re also taking cues from Asean and finding out what the next steps are in regional economic integration.”

Willett said that discussions have been held on how the US can help Asean through workshops and training to take the AEC forward.

Engagements between the US and Asean in the last five years have helped drive the importance ofAsean to US businesses, the US official said.

US exports to Asean totalled US$91.9billion in 2012/13 while imports to the region amounted to US$108 billion, according to information from the US-Asean Business Council website.

Asean is the US’ fourth largest export market creating and supporting over 472,000 jobs in the US.

The average Asean consumer also purchases nearly 1.75 times as many US goods per capita as the Chinese consumer and about nine times as many as the average Indian consumer, said the council.