Initiative for integration on

By Amit Baruah

SINGAPORE, NOV. 25. The ASEAN-10 today announced the launch of the Initiative for ASEAN Integration (IAI) in a bid to remove intra- region disparities in a bid to strengthen the grouping as a whole.

Announcing the launch of this Initiative, the Singapore Prime Minister, Mr. Goh Chok Tong, as the Chairman of the Fourth Informal Summit, said it ``provides a framework for regional cooperation through which the more developed ASEAN members could help those member countries that most need it.''

The IAI, Mr. Goh stressed, would focus on education, skill development and worker training. These will be key factors in the new economy. ``To catalyse IAI, ASEAN members will contribute what they can.''

To kick off the programme, Singapore offered, under a five-year technical assistance programme, several training institutes in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, to provide IT ``train-the- trainers'' course and training attachments in its educational institutions.

In his statement, Mr. Goh said ASEAN leaders agreed that to be competitive and achieve regional integration, ASEAN countries must adopt a holistic approach and view the regional as a single economy.

``They agreed that ASEAN should identify gaps in its present level of cooperation, particularly sectors that are critical to ASEAN's competitiveness in the new economy. These include telecommunications and air, sea, road, rail and river transportation,'' the statement said.

``The leaders reaffirmed the fundamental importance of political unity within ASEAN and acknowledged the importance of all 10 ASEAN countries participating together in APEC and ASEM. They agreed that Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar should be involved in APEC working groups, with a view to eventual membership,'' it added.

According to the statement, the leaders of ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea emphasised the importance of closer cooperation among East Asian countries. ``They supported the proposal by South Korean President Kim Dae-jung for an East Asia Study Group. They also supported the proposal by Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji to set up an expert group to study how economic cooperation and free trade relations between ASEAN and China can be deepened.''

Talking to mediapersons, Mr. Goh stated that an East Asian summit was not going to happen immediately. Such a process he said would take some time and, meanwhile, ASEAN+3 was the best way forward. About the formation of the East Asia Study Group, Mr. Goh said details of its constitution would be worked out by South Korea and the ASEAN Secretariat.

To a question whether ASEAN would not get eclipsed by a possible East Asian grouping, the Prime Minister said deep study of the issue would be called for by ASEAN itself. There was a need, he said, to stress on ASEAN solidarity.

Mr. Goh said there was strong sense among ASEAN countries that alone they were weak, but together and integrated, they were strong.

Turning to specific areas, the Prime Minister said there was a need to build road in the northern part of ASEAN. While a drive was even today possible from Kunming (China) to Singapore, there was a need to facilitate normal vehicular traffic.

On aviation, he said, it had been suggested to Mr. Zhu that China should allow ASEAN airlines to fly directly to western parts of China. Singapore airlines, too, could be permitted to fly to ASEAN countries and then to the western parts of China.

These ideas, Mr. Goh revealed, had been accepted by Mr. Zhu.

On the upcoming E.U.-ASEAN Foreign Ministers meeting in Laos, the Prime Minister said there was some discussion on the issue among ASEAN leaders. ``If E.U. wants to exclude Myanmar, then let it (the dialogue) be called off,'' he remarked.

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