NEW DELHI: Vajpayee promised that India would take several steps to improve access to its markets as he sought free trade arrangements with ASEAN. He also assured investors that India's commitment to economic liberalization was irreversible. "I believe India and ASEAN have a mutual interest in working towards beneficial preferential and free trade arrangements," the prime minister said while opening the first business summit between India and ASEAN here. "We need to look at conventional as well as innovative mechanisms to promote economic integration." The meeting is being held about two weeks ahead of an India-ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Speaking before an audience that included Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Prommin Lertsuridej and ministers from Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam, Vajpayee said New Delhi wanted reciprocation of measures aimed at drumming up trade with Southeast Asia. "India is already committed to reducing peak tariff rates to East Asian levels within the next three years. We are continuously introducing measures for improving market access, harmonization of standards and simplification of documents. "We seek reciprocal measures from our partners. We see a regional trade and investment area as a near-term objective of India-ASEAN economic relations." Vajpayee asserted the global economic slowdown was a compelling reason for India and ASEAN member-states to come closer economically. "Western economies which have been the mainstay of Asia's foreign investment and export-led growth today face uncertain prospects of recovery in the near future. Meanwhile, India continues on an uninterrupted growth trajectory, averaging an economic growth of about six percent. "We should build on the complementarities between the Indian and ASEAN economies. This can cushion us against the impact of a downturn in external markets." He said the annual trade of less than $10 billion between India and ASEAN did not do "justice to our population of one-and-a-half billion people producing $1.5 trillion worth of goods and services". India became a full dialogue partner of ASEAN in 1995 and the beginning of regular summit-level dialogue next month would be a watershed in their ties, he noted. Vajpayee enumerated various reasons for forging closer economic ties between India and ASEAN nations. "The center of gravity of the world is shifting gradually but decisively towards the Asia-Pacific. In one form or the other, Asia is set to dominate the politics and economics of this century," he said. Asian professionals had won worldwide respect in fields as diverse as IT and biotechnology, and proficiency in knowledge-based economy could accelerate progress. ASEAN nations -- known for their excellent infrastructure in power, urban services, airports and roads -- could help India tackle its weaknesses in these areas. "One of the strengths of the economic bonds between India and ASEAN is that investment flows have been in both directions," Vajpayee said, noting that Indians had been investing in Southeast Asia for the past 40 years. "All these investments took place well before India's economic liberalisation in the 1990s." New Delhi, he said, was also committed to helping ASEAN member states in the equitable distribution of benefits of globalization. "We have launched human resource development programs in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam under this initiative."
Source: IANS