India and SE Asian nations focus on economic ties<\/p>\n
Luke Hunt, Agence France-Presse, Phnom Penh<\/p>\n
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee ended an historic
\nmeeting with Southeast Asian leaders Tuesday with hopes of
\nestablishing a free trade agreement with Southeast Asian nations
\nwithin a decade.<\/p>\n
The leaders of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian
\nNations (ASEAN) welcomed Vajpayee's determination to build
\nstronger economic ties between the region and India, which has a
\nmiddle class of 300 million people.<\/p>\n
\"The prime minister wants to work towards a free trade
\nagreement with ASEAN within the next 10 years,\" Indian Foreign
\nMinister Yashwant Sinha said after the meeting, while emphasizing
\nIndia did not want to be an economic threat to Southeast Asia.<\/p>\n
\"We are not in competition with ASEAN or any group of
\ncountries within ASEAN,\" Sinha quoted Vajpayee as saying.<\/p>\n
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said ASEAN and India had
\nagreed that concrete co-operation between the two would be
\nestablished within the next 10 years, and signaled greater
\nopportunities to invest along the Mekong river, which runs
\nthrough five Southeast Asian nations.<\/p>\n
\"We agreed to work together to broaden and intensify joint
\nefforts in the Mekong basin,\" Hun Sen said.<\/p>\n
Through a proposed Regional Trade and Investment Area
\nagreement proposed during the meeting, their markets would be
\ncombined to include some 1.5 billion consumers and a gross
\nnational product of 1.7 trillion dollars.<\/p>\n
Vajpayee's mission in Phnom Penh was the first time a leader
\nfrom the subcontinent had addressed a summit, and all parties
\npledged to use the occasion as a platform to build stronger ties.<\/p>\n
Although the talks were squarely focused on economic
\nrelations, Vajpayee also called for a unified effort \"to fight
\nthe almighty scourge of terror\".<\/p>\n
The two parties discussed an agreement to develop concrete
\nprograms to jointly fight terrorism, piracy, drug and people
\ntrafficking, arms smuggling, money laundering, economic crime and
\ncybercrime.<\/p>\n
While terrorism was briefly discussed at the meeting, ASEAN
\nofficials said India's long-running conflict with nuclear-rival
\nPakistan was not on the agenda.<\/p>\n
And with the focus remaining on trade, Vajpayee obliged ASEAN
\nleaders seeking Indian assistance to help technologically weaker
\ncountries.<\/p>\n
\"We want to deepen our linkages in trade, investment and
\ntechnologies, especially high technologies,\" Sinha quoted
\nVajpayee as saying.<\/p>\n
\"We'd like cooperation between ASEAN and India in software and
\nhardware technologies and pharmaceuticals.\"<\/p>\n
India became an ASEAN sectoral dialogue partner in 1992 and
\nwas elevated to a full dialogue partner three years later,
\nmeaning the nations could hold talks at ministerial level.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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