INDIA SEES ASEAN AS KEY ELEMENT IN ASIAN ECONOMIC ARCHITECTURE

From Rosmah Mohamad Salim

NEW DELHI, Jan 22 (Bernama) -- India regards Asean as a key element for the Asian economic community architecture that will help bring peace and prosperity to the region, says India's Minister for External Affairs S.M. Krishna.

He said relations between India and Asean countries have been diversified
and
strengthened to a strategic level with some countries in the region through
regular exchanges of high level bilateral visits and close interaction at
regional and multilateral fora, characterised its growing engagements.

"India and Asean have also been engaged in developing a broader regional
architecture in the Asia-Pacific region. The Asean Regional Forum and the East
Asia Summit provide useful opportunities for productive interaction," he said in
his opening address at the Delhi Dialogue-II: Regional Security and Cooperation
Dialogue here Thursday.

The two-day dialogue themed "India and South East Asia in the Changing
Regional
Economic Dynamics of Asia: Shared Interests and Concerns" is attended by
experts, members of parliament, senior business and industry
representatives from India and Asean.

Krishna said in the wake of the recent global financial and economic crises,
it
was imperative to develop greater cooperation among developing countries so
that an effective voice in the international financial architecture and a new
global economic order could be achieved.

Later, speaking to journalists participating in the India-Asean Media
Exchange Programme, Krishna expressed confidence that India-Asean trade
relations would increase substantially.

"I think both economic and political relationships with Asean are getting
stronger by the day and our conclusion of a free trade agreement with Asean in
goods could also be expanded to services is a sure indication to the fact that
our relationships are getting further strengthened," he said.

Since early 1990s, India has been closely pursuing closer ties with
Southeast Asia and the Pacific region under the country's "Look East Policy".

India believed that by expanding its dialogue and cooperation would
greatly contribute to its common endeavour for inclusive socio-economic
development of its people.

Krishna said India strongly believed in sharing its developmental
experiences with fellow countries and had participated in development
cooperation programmes with Asean countries and in the "Initiative for
Asean Integration Programme."

"We have given particular emphasis to human resource development through
training, scholarships, establishment of entrepreneurship development centres
and language training centres.

"The Asean-India S&T Fund, which has been operationalised, would promote
joint collaborative research projects in science and technology," he said.

The minister also said India-Asean trade had grown rapidly in recent years
and the India-Asean Trade-in-Goods Agreement under a Free Trade Agreement,
which came into force on Jan 1, 2010, had opened new possibilities for the
expansion of India's trade with the region.

In addition to the India-Asean FTA with several countries in the region,
bilateral FTAs and Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement have been
concluded or are being negotiatied with several Asean countries, including
Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, with whom India's bilateral trade turnover
had crossed US$10 billion each.

-- BERNAMA