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ShareChennai: Janata Party today stressed the need for setting up of an 'East Asian Union' with India being a part of it for enhancing trade and opportunities.
"An East Asian Union with India in it needs to be formed. The concept of an East Asian Union is of a common market which has minimal border restrictions and near zero tariff on Intra-Union Trade," party president Subramanian Swamy said.
The East Asian Union could be backed with a consultative body that may be called East Asia Parliament of elected members from each constituting nation of the Union, he said.
Stating that the country needs "A Look East Policy" as suggested by former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao in 1992, he said "in terms of economic development, we need this policy to foster a common market with ASEAN plus China, Japan and South Korea, co-opt Australia and New Zealand".
The US may also be included as a 'dialogue partner' since each of the nations of this grouping looks to the US for trade, technology and innovations, he said. He was speaking at a seminar on '21st Century Asia: Emerging Symbiotic Relations among India, Japan, China and South Korea' organised by Indo-Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry here.
On India signing the Free Trade Agreement with ASEAN, Swamy said, "this pact is not just an economic agreement. For India, it is also a political statement."
He said FTA had taken five years to negotiate. India was in a substantial trade deficit with ASEAN. India's exports to ASEAN in 2007 and 2008 were around USD 16 billion and imports about USD 23 billion, he said.
He said following the global economic slowdown, an Asian Infrastructure Bank or an Asian Infrastructure Finance Corporation should be formed with a focus on financing cross-border infrastructure.
"I would like India and China, for example, to cooperate in building a trans New Delhi to Hanoi railway line," he said. On ties with China, Swamy said China was already India's largest single-country trading partner.
"In 2007-08, India's exports to China amounted to around $11 billion, while imports were at about USD 29 billion. India's exports to China are dominated by iron-ore and the big challenge would be to develop new exports if our growing trade deficit with China is not to become a political issue in India," he said.
