ASEAN Community in 2015 It is in the economic pillar where ASEAN cooperation has been widely touted to be successful. The Member-States find it easier to cooperate with one another vis-à-vis the two other pillars. As such, when the AEC commences in 2015, it can be expected that the economies will aggressively open up given that barriers to trade – both tariff and non-tariff will be eliminated. Economies will be liberalized to achieve the goal of ASEAN becoming a single market and production base.