Saying that India’s future and economic interests would be served best by greater integration with its Asian partners, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today asked the Asean to expedite the conclusion of negotiations for the India-Asean Free Trade Agreement in services and investment.

He also announced the allocation of up to $50 million under the Asean Development Fund to execute various initiatives of the 10-member regional bloc.

Addressing the 7th India-Asean Summit at the picturesque beach resort here, Singh described the conclusion of the India-Asean Trade-in-Goods Agreement in August this year as a major step towards fulfilling the objective of creating an India-Asean Regional Trade and Investment Area. “We attach high importance to the early conclusion of negotiations on the Trade-in-Services and Investment Agreement and we should direct our officials accordingly,” he told the Summit. Despite the recent economic slowdown, India-Asean trade has grown at a healthy rate and currently stands at $48 billion. Singh exuded confidence that bilateral trade to the tune of $50 billion could be achieved.

The Prime Minister said India would be happy to participate in projects under Asean’s Work Plan for 2009-15 in education, energy, agriculture and forestry. Besides, India could offer its services for the realisation of the Asean ICT Master Plan for 2010-15 “To support all these initiatives, we are ready to allocate up to $50 million during the period of the Asean Work Plan under the Asean-India Cooperation Fund and the Asean Development Fund,” Singh told the Summit.

He suggested that India would be privileged to host the India-Asean Summit meeting in 2012 and to ensure a substantive outcome, he proposed the setting up of a Joint Task Force to prepare a Vision Statement for India-Asean relations up to 2020. The Prime Minister said India and Asean could jointly consider organising a Commonwealth ship expedition in 2011-12 on sea routes developed during the 10th and 12th centuries, linking India with Southeast Asia and East Asia. The expedition could cover modern and ancient ports in the Asean nations and other East Asian countries, he said.

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