ASEAN chief visit augurs well

By Sushma Ramachandran

NEW DELHI, JAN. 2. The New Year seems to have started off on a positive note for the `Look East' policy as the Director-General of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN), Mr. Rudolfo Severino, is slated to arrive here next week. The visit will be followed by the third ASEAN-India Senior Officials Meeting later in the month.

According to official sources, Mr. Severino's visit on January 8 and 9 is to deliver the ASEAN Eminent Persons lecture series, organised under the auspices of Research and Information Systems, but he is also expected to hold talks with representatives of the Commerce and External Affairs Ministries.

With the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, leaving shortly for two southeast countries, efforts are being made to forge closer ties with the tiger economies of the region. A series of initiatives has been taken but a dialogue is required for closer economic cooperation, ASEAN is seeking greater complementarity of Indian policies with that of its member countries. The pace of reforms is considered too slow with red tapism and procedural hassles being high on the list of problems faced by ASEAN investors.

Mr. Severino is thus expected to hold discussions with the Commerce Ministry on ways to boost trade and economic cooperation. Southeast Asia is a major market for Indian exports but these are facing stiff competition from products made in China. At the same time, ASEAN will look to easier market access in India and the complete removal of Quantitative Restrictions by April this year will help to a great extent. The ASEAN countries are bound to seek preferential tariffs since duty rates may be pegged relatively high for a wide variety of consumer goods where the regional bloc's members are extremely competitive. Multilateral trade issues, including the proposed new round of trade negotiations under the World Trade Organisation, may also figure during the talks.

The ASEAN is also said to be interested in the information technology sector. so Mr. Severino will be making a visit to Bangalore to hold meetings with the software industry. Cooperation in the sector is one of the priorities for the ASEAN, given that India is emerging as a software giant.

Close on the heels of Mr. Severino's visit will be the third ASEAN-India SOM meeting to be attended by officials from all seven member countries of the bloc. Sources say the discussions will cover a wide array of issues ranging from the international arena to political, economic and cultural aspects of cooperation. This is considered a significant meeting in the context of the growing close ties between the ASEAN and India as the meeting will seek to iron out irritants in the path of a closer strategic and economic relationship.

The first SOM meeting was held in 1998 and the second in 1999. The third meeting could not be held last year but has now been scheduled for January 18 and 19. Officials are hopeful that the focus on the country's eastern neighbours will enable India to emerge as a significant player on the Asian economic scene in the long-term. Till recently it had been seeking membership in the regional blocs such as the ASEAN and the Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation, but has now decided to engage in a more pro-active way through dialogue. The SOM meeting is part of this intensive dialogue that is proposed to be continued over the next few months.

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