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India eyes EU-style Asian economic community

PM leaves for KL to attend India-Asean, East Asian summits

PALLAB BHATTACHARYA, New Delhi
With his vision of an Asian Economic Community like European Union, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh leaves here today for Kuala Lumpur where he attends two key summits with leaders from Asean and China, Japan, Australia and South Korea aimed at promoting trade with the region.
Singh will take part in India-Asean summit on December 13 and will also attend the first ever East Asian summit comprising ten countries of Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) and India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand the next day. Russian President Vlaidmir Putin, on a visit to Malaysia, will attend the East Asian summit as a guest of the host country.
Ahead of Singh's trip to the Malaysian capital, India and Asean resolved the ticklish issue of rules of origin to kick start the long-
awaited Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the region by January 2007.
The rules of origin, aimed at preventing flooding of Indian markets by goods from China taking advantage of the FTA, have been sorted out, Secretary (East) in Indian Foreign Ministry Rajiv Sikri told reporters here.
The FTA between India and Asean had run into difficulties over disagreements on textiles and agricultural goods. The two sides had agreed in 2002 to start talks for FTA to implement it by 2006 but differences over interpretation of rules of origin delayed the proposal.
China has either entered into or negotiating FTAs with a number of Asean countries. In fact, China's trade volume with Asean is much bigger than India.
Trade between India and Asean is expected to be nearly $25 billion this year and anticipated to grow by 30 percent annually with the launch of the FTA. Last year, trade between India and Asean
registered a sharp increase of 40.8 percent over 2003, up from $12.5 billion to $17.6 billion, according to official estimates.
While India's FTA with six major economies of Asean, including Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, would go into force right away, it would begin in the year 2016 with poorer countries Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos.
As part of its “Look East” policy first launched in late eighties, India has already entered into FTAs with Thailand and Singapore besides a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) with the city state. India has also set up joint working groups with Malaysia, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan for CECA.
Asked if India viewed China as a rival in the context of East Asian summit, Sikri said “We do not see any rivalry between the two countries.”