|
South-East Asian trade
ministers are
meeting in Singapore this week to find ways to improve linkages and
advance talks with some of their biggest economic partners as they
seek to form a European Union (EU)-styled community.
Officials from the
Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will hold discussions with their
counterparts from India, Japan, China, South Korea, Australia and New
Zealand.
South-East Asian nations
last year
agreed to open up their markets further in a bid to create an
economic zone modelled after the EU, without a common currency, by
2015. The group has said it needs to improve its competitiveness as
China and India, the world’s two fastest growing major economies,
to attract an increasing chunk of global investment.
“To gain our share of
investments and
jobs, ASEAN needs to become a well-integrated community,” Singapore
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said. “We have to continue
strengthening our economic foundations, reducing tariff and
non-tariff barriers and simplifying business regulations.”
The region’s ministers will
attempt
to conclude free trade talks with India’s Commerce and Industry
Minister Kamal Nath this week, said former ASEAN secretary general
Ong Keng Yong. An accord between India, the world’s second most
populous country, and ASEAN has been delayed repeatedly because of
disagreement over tariff cuts. The modalities for tariff reductions
and eliminations on trade in goods in the ASEAN-India agreement have
been finalised, the ministers said in a statement. (Source: Live
Mint)
August 27, 2008
|
