Vajpayee opens India-ASEAN business summit

Vajpayee opens India-ASEAN business summit

Reiner S., The Jakarta Post, New Delhi

India's Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee inaugurated on
Thursday the second India-ASEAN Business Summit as part of the
effort to boost economic and business cooperation between the
two.

But while dozens of business players from Malaysia and
Singapore participated in the event, Indonesia was represented by
only one businessman, Rudy Pesik, together with a couple of
officials from the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Office
of the State Minister for Research and Technology.

In his opening speech, Vajpayee said that two-way trade
between members of the Association of South East Asian Nations
and India could be further increased from last year's volume of
more than US$10 billion to $15 billion over the next two years,
and $30 billion by 2007.

"Trade and investment are the basic building blocks of the
India-ASEAN relationship. India-ASEAN trade now exceeds $10
billion, but has barely scratched the surface of its potential,"
he told hundreds of business leaders and political leaders from
around the region.

The summit will last for two days in New Delhi and one day in
Mumbai. Among the key economic sectors to be discussed during the
summit are agriculture and food processing, and biotechnology and
pharmaceuticals, and tourism.

While the main aim of the summit is to promote greater
economic cooperation, analysts have said that collaboration was
also crucial to counterbalancing the fast growing dominance of
China in the Southeast Asian region.

Indeed, with a combined population of 1.5 billion people, a
growing middle class, and progress in economic recovery and
reform programs, there is a compelling rationale for both ASEAN
and India to boost trade and investment cooperation.

Trade and investment activities between India and ASEAN were
disrupted by the 1997 East Asia economic crisis. But since 2000,
trade and investment volumes have started to pick up although
India's exports to ASEAN at $3.7 billion in 2002 were well below
the high of $4.2 billion recorded in 1996.

Singapore and Malaysia together accounted for about 90 percent
of India's total imports from ASEAN in 1991, according to data
from India's chamber of commerce and industry (FICCI).

Although their combined share has fallen over the years, the
two countries still enjoy a dominant position and account for 67
percent of India's imports from ASEAN. The share lost by
Singapore has been captured by Malaysia and Thailand to some
extent but in more recent years, it is Indonesia that has emerged
as the main beneficiary, with its share of India's total imports
increasing from 3.7 percent in 1991 to more than 20 percent in
2002.

Elsewhere, Vajpayee also said that companies from ASEAN
countries were participating in India's ambitious infrastructure
development program.

"India has committed $12.5 billion in this fiscal year alone
for the development of national highways, airports, ports, and
convention centers. There are obvious opportunities for ASEAN in
these infrastructure projects," he said.

He said that India could share with ASEAN its expertise in
space technology.

"India has built and launched a number of satellites, both
for itself and for other countries. We can offer this service to
ASEAN countries at considerably less cost than they incur at
present."

He explained India, and the Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri
Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation (BIMST-EC) group were
working towards a Free Trade Arrangement.

The event also marked the launching of the ASEAN-India
business portal at www.aseanindia.net.