India Seeking Asean Membership

By Mahesh Prasad

NEW DELHI, March 9 (Bernama) -- India is making a last ditch effort to become a part of the ASEAN 3 (China, Japan, Korea) trading bloc, which would formally come into existence next year.

The 38th ASEAN ministerial meet in July will decide whether India should be included in the bloc, said a report in the business daily, the Financial Express.

The report, quoting foreign office sources without naming them, said China and Malaysia were opposing India's inclusion, while Japan was lobbying hard to make India a part of the bloc.

"Our focus is on seeking support of ASEAN countries that are open to the idea of making India a part of the economic community," the report said.

The idea behind the ASEAN community is to establish a modified EU style group of East Asian countries by 2020.

Since India is not a part of any major trading bloc, being a part of the ASEAN economic community, holds great attraction for it, the report said.

"This is India's last chance to become a part of a large trade bloc. It should try hard to seize the opportunity," Dr. Nagesh Kumar, Director General, Research and Information Systems for non-aligned and other developing countries, had said.

The 10-member ASEAN has grown into a major economic and trading bloc.

It is engaged in bilateral and multilateral dialogue with the US, Russia, China, the EU and other countries in the Asia Pacific region.

-- BERNAMA

from: http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v3/news_lite.php?id=123138