Asean Trade Integration Is a Lesson for the World, Leaders Say

Asean Trade Integration Is a Lesson for the World, Leaders Say

By Yoolim Lee

Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Southeast Asia's progress in the past 40 years
to integrate as one market for trade, investment and security can serve
as a lesson for the world amid stalled free-trade talks, leaders from
Malaysia and the Philippines said.

Since the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, was formed
in 1967, the region's annual trade has swelled to more than $1 trillion
from $10 billion. The group's cooperation to fight terrorism helped
capture a number of leaders of Jemaah Islamiyah, a regional terrorist
group affiliated to al-Qaeda.

``I can't say that it can be carbon copied elsewhere, but we have made
a lot of progress with our model,'' Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah
Badawi said at a session of the World Economic Forum in Davos,
Switzerland.

President George W. Bush has been under criticism for his strategy in
Iraq as violence has escalated over the past year. Global free-trade
negotiations, known as the Doha Round, collapsed last year amid
finger-pointing by the European Union, the U.S., India and Brazil over
aid for rich nations' farmers.

Negotiators are meeting in Davos this week to try to revive the talks.

In Southeast Asia, leaders agreed to speed up their target for a single
market to 2015 from 2020. They are also pursuing free-trade accords
with China, Japan and Australia as well as India to expand their
markets.

``We in Asean view China and India as our two wings,'' Singapore's
Foreign Minister George Yeo said on Jan. 19. ``We are eager to see both
wings grow in tandem.''

Asean's trade with China grew from $40 billion five years ago to $130
billion in 2006, while trade with India doubled to $20 billion,
according to Yeo.

Asean includes Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, the
Philippines, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

To contact the reporter on this story: Yoolim Lee in Davos at
yoolim@xxxxxxxxxxxxx .

Last Updated: January 26, 2007 22:34 EST

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