PM proposes 5-point plan to boost Asean ties

NEW DELHI: While stating that the conclusion of the India-Asean trade-in-goods agreement in August 2009 is a major first step in India���s objective of creating an India-Asean regional trade and investment area, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday proposed a fivepoint programme to further strengthen the India-Asean links at the 7th India-Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Thailand.

These included establishment of an India-Asean round table comprising think tanks, policy makers, scholars, media and business representatives to bridge the knowledge gap further.

He also proposed simplification of the visa regime to encourage business and tourist travel, holding an Asean trade and industrial exhibition in India in October 2010 or January 2011, enhanced cooperation in the agriculture sector and cooperation in the application of space technologies.

���We attach high importance to the early conclusion of negotiations on the trade in services and investment agreement and we should direct our officials accordingly ,������ he stated. After signing the free trade agreement (FTA) Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in August, the two regions have started negotiations to broadbase the pact to include investment and services.

The FTA is now limited to trade in goods. With services contributing 55% of its economy, India is quite keen on tapping the growing services market in Southeast Asia. Singh also offered to help southeast Asian nations in management of natural disasters by sharing satellite data with them and launching small satellites made by them.

Singh also had a ���good discussion������ with his Japanese counterpart Yukio Hatoyama on the future of the East Asia Summit (EAS) process and on the importance of evolving an open and transparent regional economic arrangement. According to the foreign ministry, the two prime ministers agreed to work to gether in a positive and constructive way on the climate change issue.