SM Goh urges Asian countries to engage each other more
proactively
By India Correspondent Damanjeet Kohli |
Posted: 20 March 2010 1924 hrs
NEW DELHI : The recent global financial
crisis has lead to a shift of economic power from the West to Asia,
and the continent has emerged from recession much more quickly than
countries in the West.
Singapore Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong said Asian countries should
now start engaging each other more proactively, putting aside their
differences to help the region emerge as an economic and strategic
powerhouse.
China is still India's biggest trading partner despite an
unresolved border issue between the two nations.
In the last four years, their bilateral trade has more than doubled
to US$41 billion.
Mr Goh lauded both countries for expanding their economic
cooperation while avoiding further conflict.
He said such cooperation will go a long way towards facilitating a
new global architecture revolving around Asia.
Mr Goh said: "Stability in the relations between the major powers,
such as between the US and China, as well as between China and
India, will continue to be key. There will always be inherent
tensions in these great power relationships as they compete for
influence, markets and resources.
"But there are also built-in stabilisers in the growing
interdependence of countries in a globalised and deeply
interconnected world."
Speaking at the Asia Society Conference in New Delhi, Mr Goh said
reordering of the global power structure was inevitable as Asia
continues to grow.
He added that for the region to make the most of the new order,
'major and emerging powers must learn to adjust and accommodate
each other'.
Mr Goh said: "The European Union is not the benchmark for the
eventual shape of the regional architecture in Asia. Instead, the
regional architecture in Asia will be much more fluid, with many
overlapping layers and mechanisms in order to accommodate the
disparate political, cultural and economic interests in the
region."
Earlier, he met India's Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission,
Montek Singh Alhuwalia, and Leader of the Indian Opposition in
Parliament, Sushma Swaraj.
He sought their support to use Singapore as a converging point for
Asian leaders and businessmen to meet.
He said Singapore was interested to play the role of catalyst to
allow Asian businessmen to network and collaborate on a neutral
platform.
Mr Goh encouraged Indian leaders to look at Singapore and other
ASEAN countries not only as trading partners, but also as a
platform to pursue wider strategic interests in Asia.
Singapore and other ASEAN countries have emerged as big trading
partners of India. But other countries, including US, China and
Japan, are already engaging Singapore and Southeast Asian region
more proactively.
As Senior Minister Goh pointed out, Asia can truly emerge
as one big marketplace when India shifts its policy of merely
"looking East" to "engaging (the) East".
Meanwhile, the Confederation of Indian Industries hosted a lunch
for Senior Minister Goh on Saturday afternoon.
The lunch was attended by several Indian business leaders,
including Subodh Bhargava, Tarun Das and Vinayak Chatterjee.
They had a wide-ranging exchange of views on recent developments in
India and Southeast Asia, and discussed how the private sectors in
the two countries could further strengthen economic cooperation,
especially among small- and medium-sized enterprises.
Mr Goh will leave for Singapore on Saturday night. -
CNA/ms