Monday, December 12 2005 14:13 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kuala Lumpur: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today (Dec 12, 2005) mooted a Pan-Asian Free Trade Area, along the lines of North American Free Trade Area and the European Union, as part of efforts to make the Asian region an economic power house.

"I believe the objective basis for the economies of our region to come together exists. The subjective desire to create an East Asian Community, bringing together ASEAN, China, Japan, Korea, and also Australia and New Zealand, is manifest. Like the North American Free Trade Area, and the expanding European Union, a Pan-Asian FTA will be a dynamic, open and inclusive association of the countries of our region," he said.

"I am convinced this is the only way to move forward" even though there will be sceptics and it may not be easy. But for believers it is eminently possible," Singh told the Asean Business Advisory Council's special leaders dialogue with the theme India-Partnering with ASEAN for Mutual Prosperity and Shared Interests.

The Prime Minister said the challenges today were to create and maintain a regional and international environment that enables us to attain and sustain high rates of economic growth.

"We must create opportunities for entrepreneurship to flourish not only locally, but also regionally and globally. Economic activity cannot be confined to national borders; it must be channelized to fuel growth in each other's countries," he told the business leaders.

Regional trading arrangements have become important building blocks of multilateralism in an increasingly globalized world, he noted.

"Therefore, we seek closer economic interaction with ASEAN. We are committed to bringing down our tariffs to levels prevalent in ASEAN countries, to dismantle unwarranted barriers and to expand global capital flows. We must walk this road together, so that enterprises in our countries find it a beneficial process, not a hurtful one," he said.