Tuesday, December 13 2005 10:30 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kuala Lumpur: India is a country to watch out for as it has the potential to be an important partner in the Southeast Asian region, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has said.

"We believe that India is a country to watch. With improved relations with its neighbours as well as the US, India has the potential of being an important partner for our region," Badawi told the 11th Asean summit here yesterday.

"We could encourage India to play its role for the promotion of peace, security and stability in East Asia as well as advancing international peace and equitable development," he said.

He noted that with the emergence of India and China as powerhouses, coupled with demographic changes in Japan, it would almost certainly lead to a re-alignment of power arrangements.

"Asean could play an important role by encouraging the major powers to improve bilateral relations and also encourage them to strengthen the security arrangements in the region namely the Asean Regional Forum," Badawi added.

Later, he told reporters that the East Asia Summit (EAS), which comprises Asean+three (China, Japan and South Korea) as also India, New Zealand and Australia will neither replace nor become an alternative to the Asean+3 process.

"The Asean+3 is a cooperative agreement between Asean and its three partners and we will continue with that. It will not in any way affect the EAS," he said.

He added that the EAS would be held annually and back-to-back with the Asean summit.