India and China should take the lead for the integration of Asian countries to end an era driven by the West, bussiness leaders from Asia said today.
Prominent Malaysian business tycoon Vincent Tan during a panel session at the Economic Times - Asian Business Leaders Conclave here, said the integration of Asia should be driven by India and China as both are "superpowers" that can persuade the rest of the region to get together.
"If China and India get together or even with Indonesia, to provide leadership, Asia can be very big," said Tan, founder of the Berjaya Corp Bhd.
He noted that for this vision to take off, leaders were needed to get everybody together. "Then we can be a very strong block of nations with a strong voice," Tan said.
"We need a 'United States of Asia'. Asia should get together, we have a big population. I think the Europeans and Americans have driven the agenda for the world for a long time," he added.
Bonds Group of Companies chairman and CEO Anson Chan said the era of Western powers driving the agenda for the world will now pass and Asia must now work with each other.
He said it was important to understand local regulations when investing in different cities and countries as it was unrealistic to think that all Asian countries will have the same framework.
"What we can do is help each other by setting up information centres to help foreign investors understand the local framework," Chan added.
He said the future of how Asia will integrate will be very different from how the European Union (EU) did it as Asian businesses were generally very agile in thinking.
"Population is an asset, never a liability," Chan said.
On whether Asia should have a single currency, Tan said it would not work and would hurt certain economies, local media quoted him as telling the panel session.
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