Asia urged to create competitive economies

Asia urged to create competitive economies

SINGAPORE (DPA): Asian countries were urged on Saturday to take up the European Union's challenge of creating competitive and dynamic economies in the next decade.

The recent economic crises in Southeast Asia have shown "the region's response has been resourceful and resilient," German Secretary of State Wolfgang Ischinger told the Third Europe Asia Forum in Singapore.

The creation of knowledge-based economies "will result in increased opportunities for economic cooperation and exchange between our regions," Ischinger said on the second day of meetings organized by the Asia-Europe Foundation and the Herbert Quandt Stiftung, a foundation of the BMW Group.

The EU has set the objective for the next decade of becoming the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, Ischinger said, "capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion."

"A heightened awareness of the need to address shared concerns through joint effort may well turn out to be a long-term gain," Ischinger said.

With Asia a top priority for Germany this year, Ischinger said German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and other ministers would travel to the region. Despite a lower level of engagement with Asia in 1999, Ischinger said Asia has returned to being a top priority.

He noted Berlin was preoccupied with the Kosovo crisis and "had more problems than we were able to deal with."

Citing the macro-economic targets set by the EU states, Schroeder mentioned an average of 3 percent economic growth annually over the next decade and a 50 percent hike in education expenditures by 2010.

Markets for telecommunications, gas, electricity and transport should be liberalized further and fully integrated in the next two to five years, he said.