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PM for greater Indo-ASEAN cooperation through AFTA

Sujit Chatterjee in Phnom Penh

Describing the first India-ASEAN Summit as a "logical progression" of the traditional links, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said on Tuesday that he would seek enhanced cooperation with the ten-nation grouping through the ASEAN Free Trade Area.

"We are seeking to accelerate trade and investment flows between India and the ASEAN through enhanced cooperation," he said in a message to a publication brought out by the Indian Embassy for the Summit.

Vajpayee, on his second visit to Phnom Penh said: "The first Indo-ASEAN Summit is a logical progression of traditional links in line with contemporary opportunities and realities."

ASEAN has a annual turnover of a trillion US dollars and India's trade with the grouping is only $10 million.

The Prime Minister, who would hold bilateral talks with Cambodian Premier Hun Sen on Wednesday, said it was particularly fitting that the Summit should take place in Phnom Penh because of the close Indo-Cambodian ties.

Referring to lesser developed Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar, which are new entrants to ASEAN, Vajpayee said India would support integration of the new and less developed members of the grouping with those of the older and better developed states.

Vajpayee would also be holding bilateral talks with Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri on the sidelines of the Summit.

Vajpayee said "I am convinced that the Indo-ASEAN partnership is set to acquire a new vibrancy based on a closer political dialogue and mutually beneficial economic cooperation".

A senior Indian official said, to give a push to economic engagements, Indo-ASEAN economic ministers have agreed on a Regional Trade and Investment Area as a long-term objective.

"A task force for economic linkages is being set up to develop a draft framework agreement for submission to the next meeting of economic ministers in October 2003," he said.

The summit, he said, would explore the possibilities in countering rising terrorism, globally and regionally.

ASEAN comprises of Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Brunei, Thailand and Malayasia.

Besides India, ASEAN's other dialogue partners are Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia and the US. Other summit level partners of the grouping are China, Japan and South Korea.

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