Bangkok, October 18: Closer economic ties and ways of coping better with devastating natural disasters in the region will be on the agenda as Asian leaders gather in Thailand this week, analysts and diplomats have said.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meets on Friday in the resort town of Hua Hin for its annual summit, followed by talks with the leaders of China, South Korea, Japan, Australia, India and New Zealand.
Thailand is mobilising an 18,000-strong security force and invoking a harsh internal security act to prevent protests disrupting the meetings, which have been cancelled twice before owing to anti-government demonstrations.
Diplomats said when talks get underway, ASEAN leaders are likely to discuss measures to further integrate their economies by bringing down trade and financial barriers and making it easier for professionals, business executives and skilled labour to work across the region.
“The leaders are aware that to have a stronger economic clout on the world stage, the region must first be integrated,” a senior Southeast Asian diplomat told reporters.
“The global financial crisis has seen the erosion of the influence wielded by the United States and other Western powers. But Asia itself cannot assert its influence if it remains a fragmented region.”
Integrating and strengthening the regional economy “is the major issue facing all of the countries,” said Bridget Welsh, a political science professor at the Singapore Management University and an expert on Southeast Asia.
–Agencies