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Topping the agenda will be the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (Asean)
goal of advancing economic integration by five years to 2015, casting aside
tariffs and red tape which make the unified China market more attractive to
manufacturers.
<p>Malaysia’s Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz said Asean’s six most developed members
– Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Thailand – particularly
should commit themselves to fast-forwarding integration.</p>
<p>"The year 2015 should be our target. Of course if we can do it faster,
it is better still," she told AFP ahead of the meeting which begins Monday
night and runs through to Friday.</p>
<p>Under the ambitious Asean Economic Community, there would be a free flow of
trade, investments and services among member nations in sectors including transport,
telecommunications and finance.</p>
<p>Rafidah said it was important for Asean to work as a grouping to ensure that
the bloc evolves into a seamless production and export base.</p>
<p>"By seamless I mean that there is really harmonisation across the board,"
she said.</p>
<p>She also said there was a need to look into non-tariff barriers "which
are causing delays in bringing products into each other’s markets."</p>
<p>In an effort to speed up the process, officials have said that the six most
developed Asean countries will abolish tariffs on most electronic products traded
between them by next January, three years ahead of schedule.</p>
<p>Electronics is among 12 priority sectors that Asean plans to liberalise by
2010 in its quest to woo back the foreign investment that in recent years has
been heading to China and India.</p>
<p><b>Faster pace in integration?</b></p>
<p>A senior Asean official warned that the more developed Asean countries may
need to consider bringing forward even the 2015 target.</p>
<p>"If we push our integration late, everyone else will overtake us,"
he said. Foreign direct investment is increasing to India and China."</p>
<p>"China is now putting emphasis on the information technology sector,"
he added, indicating that regional economies like Malaysia which specialise
in the area could soon face new competition for investment.</p>
<p>But Rafidah said that as Asean members have widely varying political and economic
regimes, liberalisation cannot be pushed too hard.</p>
<p>"Let us not pressure ourselves," she said. "It takes time for
harmonisation to come about. We have to recognise this."</p>
<p>Mohamed Ariff, executive director of the influential Malaysian Institute of
Economic Research, has said that FDI inflow into Asean tipped US$26 billion
in 2004 compared with US$18 billion in 2001.</p>
<p>However, it has not yet reclaimed levels of US$28 billion seen before the 1997-98
financial crisis which devastated regional economies.</p>
<p>"We need a single market to compete with China for foreign investments,"
he said, adding that China attracts about US$50 billion worth of FDI annually.</p>
<p>Also attending the talks in Kuala Lumpur will be ministers from Asean’s dialogue
partners – Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.<br>
Japanese officials attending preparatory talks here proposed a giant 16-nation
free-trade grouping embracing the 10-member Asean and its six partners, which
would take in half the world’s population.</p>
<p>The 16 nations last year formed the East Asia Summit which some members hope
will be the first step towards an eventual European-style free-trade East Asia
Community.
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