ADB urges East Asia trade deal

East Asia must work towards a full free-trade zone and take swift action to cut poverty, the head of the Asian Development Bank warned regional leaders today.

The region also needs to improve infrastructure and find common cause on coping with transnational woes like crime and disease if it wants to stay competitive in future, bank president Haruhiko Kuroda said.

Speaking at the second annual East Asia Summit of 16 nations, Kuroda said the region had made progress on economic integration and recovered well from the Asian financial crisis a decade ago, but needed to do more.

"Asia is home to 12 of the world's 15 tallest buildings "" a testament to its ability to rapidly generate wealth. But it is also home to the world's largest slums," he said.

"Unless prompt action is taken, the region may lose its competitive edge," he told a closed-door summit, according to a copy of his speech.

"In order to more effectively play the role of a hub, however, Asean will need to boost its own competitiveness and pace of internal integration."

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) bloc agreed at its weekend summit to create a single market area by 2015, five years earlier than originally planned. Kuroda hailed that decision but said the entire region represented at today's gathering "" Asean plus Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea "" should work toward a full free-trade agreement (FTA).