FTAs are the future of Asia's growth: PM

Pan-Asian free trade agreements (FTA) could be the future of Asia and could open up new growth avenues for our economy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said.

Keeping this in view, he said India was forging a web of partnerships with the countries of the region through free trade and comprehensive economic cooperation agreements.

"This web of engagements may herald an eventful free trade area in Asia, covering all major Asian economies and possibly extending to Australia and New Zealand," Singh said at the opening session of the Asian Development Bank's board of governors' meeting here today.

Singh said India had concluded FTAs with the Saarc countries, Singapore and Thailand and was working towards similar arrangements with the Association of South-East Asian Nations, Japan, China and South Korea. He suggested that the ADB study the benefits of such economic agglomeration in Asia.

He said the government had actively pursued liberalisation as the country was determined to carry forward the India-Asean partnership to an enlarged domain to make the 21st century a "truly Asian century".

In this context, Singh pointed out that Customs duty rates were cut to around 12.5 per cent, quite close to the Asean levels. India had also announced its objective of aligning duty rates with the Asean levels.

The prime minister said the Asian region had become an engine of growth in recent years and would continue to increase its contribution to the world's GDP and trade.

The challenge before Asia today was to create and maintain a regional and international environment that would be conducive to maintenance of high economic growth, he added.

He also emphasised the need for a comprehensive framework of security that would ensure that the process of economic development was not derailed by the threats of terrorism, and threats to environment, food security and livelihoods.