Asian
Economic Integration: Vision of a New Asia At
Conference Hall, The Nippon Foundation Bldg., 1-2-2 Akasaka, Manato-ku,
Tokyo Asia
has been a centre of attention due to rapid growth over the past
decades. The economic progress achieved by Asia in the fifty years
has been the fastest in human history. Catching up with the developed
in per capita incomes that seemed as an impossible target earlier
has now been achieved by several Asian countries and is achievable
for several others. While Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan,
Malaysia, Thailand have all displayed extensive growth for some
time, with the recent and impressive rise of China and India, it
is clear that the centre of gravity of the world economy will now
shift to Asia. Alongside the rapid growth, a new transformation is also taking place in Asia in terms of regional economic integration, the importance of which was highlighted by the East Asian Crisis of 1997 that affected some of the best performing economies of the region. Thus many schemes of economic integration are currently taking shape in Asia at a regional or bilateral level. Considering the high level growth achieved by Asia across the board, there is a growing realisation with in the region on the relevance of a broad overarching framework to consolidate the various sub-regional and bilateral initiatives into some sort of Pan Asian grouping or an Asian Economic Community. RIS
one of the leading think tanks in India has been supporting the
process of regional economic integration in Asia with its studies
and research. It has been developing proposals of a broader pan-Asian
economic integration as a part of a research programme supported
by the Sasakawa Peace foundation. RIS studies have shown that indeed
the Asia Economic Community could be built in a gradual manner to
begin with Japan, ASEAN, China, India and Korea (JACIK). The studies
argue that such a framework is necessary for exploiting the potential
of regional economic integration in the continent more fully as
the complementarities are more profound between the sub regions
rather than with in them.
The
institute had organised the first Conference on Building A New Asia:
Towards An Asian Economic Community to further develop and propagate
ideas on Asian Economic integration in April 2003, in New Delhi.
The Conference had
the participation of heads or senior experts from premier policy
think-tanks (1)
and policy makers from China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. The
Conference was addressed by the former Prime Minister of India Mr.
I.K. Gujral, Deputy Chairman of Indian Planning Commission Mr. K.C.
Pant, former Secretary-General of Japanese LDP Mr Koichi Kato and
the key participants were received by the Indian External Affairs
Minister. There
was a general consensus at the Conference that the Asian Economic
Community is an idea whose time has come. Voices for more intensive
economic cooperation among Asian countries are emanating from different
places. It is also evident from the importance that is being attached
by different Asian countries to regional economic integration at
the bilateral or sub-regional levels. Formation of a broader pan-Asian
economic community, built in a phased manner could enable the region
to resume its rapid growth despite the uncertain global economic
outlook and emerge as the centre of gravity in the world economy. The
New Delhi Conference emphasized that the
think-tank community of Asia has a critical role to play in realizing
the dream of building a New Asia by showing the way forward to the
policy-makers with specific proposals for implementation. The Conference
stressed the need to keep the informal network of think-tanks created
at this Conference alive and active for generating new ideas. The
Conference also called for organization of follow-up conferences
in Tokyo (2004) and New Delhi (2005) to take the idea further. As
a follow up of the above mandate, RIS has set up the New Asia Forum
with its dedicated website and has launched a newsletter, New
Asia Monitor. A volume based on the substantive contributions
made at the 2003 Conference is being published by RIS in collaboration
with the ISEAS in 2004. As recommended by the New Delhi Conference,
a successor Conference was planned to be organized in Tokyo
on 18-19 November 2004 by RIS in collaboration with other think-tanks
in the region. The
second New Asia Conference provided a forum of debate on the relevance
of regional economic integration in Asia and desirable approaches
to it in terms of scope and coverage. The discussions at the Conference
were supported by analytical studies conducted by RIS and partner
institutions over the past two years on approaches for regional
integration. The Conference contributed to the agenda of regional
economic integration by providing a road map, creating wider awareness
of the gains from it and thus building support and public opinion
favourable to it. The major issues that the second New Asia conference addressed are as follows: Relevance of an Asian Economic Community and Possible Approaches
Monetary and Financial Integration in Asia Prospects
of Cooperation in Energy and Infrastructure Science,
Technology and Industry
Asian Identity
and Development Paradigms Way
Forward For further information please contact: Dr
Nagesh Kumar India Email: dgoffice@ris.org.in
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