NEW DELHI, 20 October 2004 — Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday proposed the creation of an Asian community grouping ASEAN and the countries of Northeast Asia saying it would create an “arc of advantage” to rival the European Union (EU).
Manmohan told the third India-ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) business summit that India had adopted a “Look East” foreign policy because it believed in the vision of an “Asian century.”
“It is inevitable that we seek to take the India-ASEAN relationship to a higher level where we envision an Asian economic community, which encompasses ASEAN, China, Japan, Korea and India,” Manmohan told the meeting here.
“Such a community would release enormous energies. One is captivated by the vision of an integrated market spanning the distance from the Himalayas to the Pacific Ocean linked by efficient road, rail, air and shipping (services).
“It would account for half the world’s population and it would hold foreign exchange reserves exceeding those of the EU and North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) put together.”
The ten-member ASEAN association comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
India signed a framework trade agreement with ASEAN last year that will eventually lead to a free trade area in goods, services and investment. ASEAN has said it will start free-trade negotiations with Japan and South Korea in April next year and expects to wrap up talks within two years.
India and China have also signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) of ASEAN, a regional non-aggression pact ratified in 1976.
ASEAN and China have also agreed that a pact on trade in goods and services, inked in Bali last year, will be ready for signing at an ASEAN summit in Laos in November, said ASEAN Secretary General Ong Keng Yong.
“The major concern for ASEAN countries is how to be competitive vis-a-vis Asian giants like India and China but we have a trade understanding with them and know we can have a symbiotic relationship,” Yong told the meeting.
He added that Asia had rebounded strongly after the 1997-98 regional financial crisis but economic integration remained a huge challenge.
