India-ASEAN: Investing among ourselves

India-ASEAN: Investing among ourselves

Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister of India, New Delhi

The past year has woven a number of important new strands into
the fabric of the India-ASEAN partnership: We have launched new
cooperation programs in science & technology, transport and
infrastructure, information technology, biotechnology and human
resources development. Cooperative projects for the Cambodia,
Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam (CLMV) countries are under preparation or
implementation under the India-ASEAN fund.

We have also made remarkable progress towards a Framework
Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation between India and
ASEAN. India has offered to negotiate an Early Harvest Program,
identifying fast track measures for economic cooperation and
trade promotion. We have also offered unilateral tariff
concessions to the CLMV countries.

To corporate India, such efforts are a major vote of
confidence in the new strength, resilience and global
competitiveness of Indian industry. India's sub-regional and
bilateral cooperation with ASEAN countries are also reinforcing
strands.The Bangladesh-India-Myanmar-Srilanka-Thailand Economic
Cooperation (BIMST-EC) provides a valuable link between South
Asia and our two close neighbors in Southeast Asia.

The Mekong-Ganga Cooperation provides a framework for closer
cultural links between the people of the ancient lands bound by
these two great Asian rivers. There have been new initiatives in
trade and investment linkages with Singapore and Thailand; and
new bilateral programs with Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.

Your meetings here offer a unique opportunity for Indian and
ASEAN business leaders to expand relationships and identify new
areas of collaboration. The vast natural resources, vibrant
markets, diverse technologies and human talents of India and
ASEAN can be mobilized for greater mutual benefit.

Trade and investment are the basic building blocks of the
India-ASEAN relationship. India-ASEAN trade now exceeds US$10
billion, but it has barely scratched the surface of its
potential. We must aim high, and target a turnover of $15 billion
over the next two years, and $30 billion by 2007.

Companies from ASEAN countries are participating in India's
infrastructure development program. India has committed $12.5
billion in this fiscal year for national highways, airports,
ports and convention centers. India's telecom sector is rapidly
expanding. We are carrying out major reforms in the power sector.
Some ASEAN businesses have already availed of these
opportunities.

India can share with ASEAN its expertise in space technology
for developmental applications, like natural resources mapping
and flood forecasting. India has built and launched a number of
satellites ... We can offer this service to ASEAN countries, at
considerably less cost than what they incur at present.

The strength of the India-ASEAN investment linkages is in
their two-way flows. Indian companies have invested in textiles,
chemicals, pharmaceuticals and agro-industries in Southeast Asian
countries. More recently, we have invested in Vietnam and Myanmar
in oil and gas equity. We are now promoting greater Indian
investment in ASEAN to benefit from AFTA and to access other
Asia-Pacific markets. Indian companies are also looking for more
opportunities in the energy sector.

We should invest more among ourselves, without compromising on
international standards of safety and efficiency. We also need to
find new sources of financing both to reduce costs of our
investments and to supplement our savings and foreign exchange
reserves. The "Asian Bonds" initiative of the Prime Minister of
Thailand is therefore a timely initiative, which India has
supported. We have pledged a contribution of $1 billion to the
Fund. This scheme can provide long term security and stability to
our financial instruments, ensure better returns on our
investments and fuel faster economic growth.

Today's Asia owes its economic resurgence largely to its
strength in the knowledge-based industries. Asian scientists and
experts have proved their worth. With a comparatively younger
population base, Asia will have to take on an increasing
proportion of future global research and development activity. We
must prepare for it by developing the necessary infrastructure.

We have to convert more of our institutions into international
centers of excellence. India's information technology have
received recognition throughout the world. Singapore has created
such centers for biotechnology ... Education, training and human
resources development are the pillars for Asia's future economic
growth. It is in the commercial interest of business and industry
to strengthen these pillars.

We need more effective partnership between governments and
businesses in scientific research and commercialization of new
technologies. We recognize the successes of ASEAN countries in
innovative lab-to-farm techniques. Joint India-ASEAN efforts can
multiply such examples of increasing profitability of commercial
applications for specific market requirements. Our centers of
academic and research excellence can form a network of
collaborative effort to benefit our economies.

Globalization and communications technologies have shrunk
distances, but they have not made geography irrelevant. India and
ASEAN are neighbors. We have not yet exploited this favorable
geographical fact to full economic advantage. To do this, we must
upgrade our transport linkages.

Work has started on a trilateral highway project linking
Thailand, Myanmar and India. This highway could further link up
with the existing road networks in ASEAN. Under the Mekong-Ganga
Cooperation, we are also looking at a New Delhi to Hanoi rail
link. We have to improve air connectivity with all major ASEAN
cities. These projects, when realized, would provide affordable
transport links for large-scale India-ASEAN interaction.

Business is not only about exchanges of goods or investments.
It is as much about services; we should focus much more on
tourism, entertainment, media and culture. We need to promote an
intermingling of the rich cultural traditions of Southeast Asia
and India. This would not only enrich our interaction, but also
enable us to jointly project our cultural and civilizational
achievements to the rest of the world.

This Business Summit is being held on the eve of the Cancun
Ministerial Review meeting on the WTO negotiations. The
development dimension of the Doha Round is not receiving
sufficient attention. The Doha Agenda negotiations are a two-
track process, with our concerns always on the slower track.

It is in the hands of ASEAN, India and other developing
countries to arrest this trend. We have to insist that the
multilateral trading regime takes into account the genuine
concerns of the not-so-rich countries for the welfare and
livelihood of billions of their citizens.

Agriculture is one such issue that affects not just the
economics, but also the society and politics of all our
countries. India and some ASEAN countries, with a number of other
countries, have taken some important initiatives, which should
gain further momentum as we approach Cancun.

India and ASEAN also have common concerns on Singapore issues
and on non-agricultural market access. We have recently put
behind us the contentious issues of Trade-Related Intellectual
Property Rights and public health.

In the above mentioned sectors there can be tremendous value-
addition from the proactive participation of business and
industry. Public-private partnerships are engines of growth and
development in today's globalizing world. The India-ASEAN
engagement can also profit from dynamic government-industry
linkages.

The above is abridged from the Prime Minister's address to the
Second India-ASEAN Business Summit on Sept. 4