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.