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Venue: Conference Hall, The Nippon Foundation Bldg., 2F, 1-2-2 Akasaka, Minato-Ku, Tokyo |
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Address
by Ambassador S.T. Devare, Vice-Chairman, RIS |
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People likely to be seated at the headtable: H.E. Koichi Kato; Young Members of Indian Parliament, Shri V.P. Singh, Dr. Panda, Mr. Akhilesh Yadav, Mr. Sachin Pilot, Professor Ito Kenichi; Mr. Anup Thakur, Minister, Embassy of India; Dr Nagesh Kumar |
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It is my pleasure to welcome you to this conference organized by RIS in Tokyo in collaboration with premier think-tanks of Asian countries such as the Council on East Asian Community, the Development Research Centre of the State Council of China, the Global Security Research Institute of Keio University and the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research with the support of Sasakawa Peace Foundation. |
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This Conference is a follow-up of a Conference organized by RIS in New Delhi in March 2003 in collaboration with a number of policy think-tanks of Asia. We had the privilege of Honourable Mr Koichi Kato's presence at the relevance to the regional economic integration for Asia especially the broader pan-Asian approaches. |
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The Asian region has attracted a lot of attention due to rapid growth over the past decades. In fact, the economic progress achieved by Asia in the fifty years since the end of the second World War has been the fastest in human history. The Japanese example of rapid growth in the 1960s and 1970s was followed in rapid succession by several other Asian countries such as South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia and 7% annual growth became a routine affair in east Asia. China has achieved an average growth rate of about 9% per year since 1980. Indian economy achieved about 6% average annual growth rate over the past two decades and is currently growing at about 7-8%. Catching up with the developed world 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. In most of the Asian countries, a "Middle Class" is emerging that enjoys standard of living comparable to the middle class in developed countries. |
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With the rise of China and India, it is now clear that the center of gravity of the world economy will shift to Asia in the 21st century. A recent study by Goldman Sachs shows that China and India would emerge among the top three economies of the world in the next 50 years. |
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The East Asian financial crisis of 1997 had disrupted the process of rapid growth. However, the crisis served atleast a good purpose of highlighting the importance of regional economic cooperation and bringing Asian countries together. In response to the crisis, the ASEAN countries expedited the programme of formation of ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) and moved on to further deepen the economic integration. The crisis also led to launch of several regional initiatives such as the Chiang-Mai Initiative. Furthermore, ASEAN process has also facilitated the increasing coherence in Asia through the frameworks of ASEAN+1. Thus China, Japan, India and Korea are all now engaged in evolving free trade arrangements with ASEAN as between themselves. |
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It is debatable whether these bilateral or sub-regional trade arrangements are adequate to exploit the synergies that exist in the region. There seemed to be a consensus at the New Delhi Conference that a time has come for Asia to explore broader pan-Asian approaches to regional cooperation to complement the bilateral or sub-regional approaches. Subsequently several Asian leaders have spoken of the importance of evolving region-wide programmes of cooperation. Prime Minister of India had presented a vision of an Asian Economic Community at the Asean India Summit in Bali in October 2003. Our new Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has recently observed at the Asean-India Business Summit in Delhi last month, that Asian Economic Community is an idea whose time is approaching fast. |
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RIS was mandated by the New Delhi conference to continue the process of think-tank interactions. This conference is organized as a part of that mandate. We are much encouraged by the response that this conference has received. Presence of so many distinguished and eminent experts, policy advisors and opinion makers in major Asian countries here today is by itself is suggestive of the interest in regional economic cooperation in Asia. |
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In particular, we are delighted to have the gracious presence of Honourable Mr Koichi Kato with us today to inaugurate the Conference with his observations. We are happy to have Professor Ito Kenichi, President of the Council on East Asian Community set up in Tokyo recently among many distinguished and eminent participants. We are especially pleased to have a group of young members of Indian Parliament representing a cross-section of political parties. Your presence here gives us a signal of the seriousness that Indian people attach to our Asian identity. |
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I am confident that our discussions over the two days will advance the agenda of regional economic integration in Asia in a fruitful manner. |
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With these words I welcome you once again. Thank you |
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