At the India-ASEAN and East-Asia Summits, prime minister Singh pitched for closer and greater integration between India and East and South East Asian countries.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today concluded his substantive seven-day three-nation tour of Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam during which two free trade agreements were signed as part of India's efforts to give a push to its 'Look East' policy.
Singh left for home from here after attending the India-ASEAN Summit and East Asia Summit, besides holding significant bilateral meetings with his counterparts from China, Vietnam, Singapore and Australia as also with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
At the India-ASEAN and East-Asia Summits, Singh pitched for closer and greater integration between India and East and South East Asian countries.
He pressed for early completion of free trade agreement in Services and Investment and implementation of such a pact on Goods signed last year.
Singh also announced visa-on-arrival facility to nationals of Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines and Laos from January next year and a slew of other measures like setting up of a Centre for Tracking and Data Reception and an Imaging facility for the ASEAN countries.
The prime minister yesterday held talks with his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao and said China should be sensitive to India's "core" issues as he raised "difficult" matters with him in the backdrop of Beijing issuing stapled visas to people of Jammu and Kashmir.
Prior to his trip to Vietnam, Singh visited Malaysia and Japan.
During his visit to Malaysia, the two countries decided to forge closer ties on a range of areas, including defence, anti-terrorism and hydrocarbons, and resolved to impart strategic dimension to their relations.
They also announced conclusion of negotiations on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), which is aimed at enabling freer movement of goods, services and investments.
The agreement, negotiations for which began in February 2008, will be formally signed by January next year by when all legal formalities would be completed and it will be implemented on July one next year.
During Singh's Japan visit, the two sides decided to hasten negotiations on a civil nuclear deal and agreed on a range of other issues to take their strategic partnership to new heights.
India and Japan also announced the firming up of Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, which will open trade between the two countries, and slashing of taxes up to 94% over the next decade.
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