Singapore, Thailand want earlier end date for ASEAN Economic

Singapore, Thailand want earlier end date for ASEAN Economic Community

Agence France-Presse Singapore

The Singapore and Thai prime ministers said on Saturday they will push for an earlier end date for the establishment of an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) during an ASEAN summit in Bali next month.

Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said the original target of 2020 is too far, especially with Asian giants China and India moving to complete a web of trade arrangements with their neighbors within a decade.

"Both of us felt that 2020 is too long a time for us to achieve this idea of a community," Goh said at a joint news conference on the second day of the Thai leader's official visit here.

"Why is it too long? Because China and India and the others are moving too quickly. So we want to see whether we can advance the end date," Goh said.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has embarked on negotiations to forge comprehensive economic partnerships with China and India, including elements of a free- trade agreement (FTA), by 2012 or earlier.

The 10-nation regional bloc launched an ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) this year under which tariffs have been brought down to between zero and five percent for ASEAN's more developed members.

ASEAN leaders, however, want ASEAN to go beyond removing tariffs to creating a community where there is a free movement of goods, services, investments and capital.

The vision also includes a European Union-style integrated ASEAN market to be able to compete with China and India, which are now drawing the bulk of global investment flow into Asia.

Goh declined to give a new target date for the AEC, saying the proposal will be mooted during an ASEAN leaders' summit in the Indonesian island of Bali next month.

Moving the original target date earlier than 2020 is "subject to the agreement of the other ASEAN leaders," he said.

ASEAN, which groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, makes decisions on the basis of consensus.

But on a bilateral basis, Thailand and Singapore will continue to "move ahead in areas where we can" cooperate, Goh added.

Thaksin said that despite the economic downturn, Singapore can join Thailand to be a "pathfinder" for the AEC.

"We would like to see the cooperation moving faster," said Thaksin, who arrived in Singapore on Friday.

Goh said a stronger Singapore-Thailand economic cooperation could create a bandwagon in ASEAN and speed up the realization of the AEC.

Both leaders said they also discussed other issues, including the continuing threat of terrorism and financial cooperation.

Thaksin said Thailand was not seeking the extradition of a suspected Islamic militant detained in Singapore but noted that there are other ways by which the two countries can cooperate to fight terrorists.