AP News, March 2nd, 2007
An economic and political integration in Asia based on the European Union model is unlikely at this stage because the region is too diverse, the president of the Asian Development Bank said.
Asian nations are at varying stages of economic development, and the notion of a joint framework that requires relinquishing a certain level of economic sovereignty can be a very difficult "sell" to national populations, Haruhiko Kuroda told a business conference Thursday.
"We should rely on a pragmatic step-by-step bottom-up approach, rather than on conceiving and implementing a comprehensive pan-Asian vision or grand plan, as was done in Europe," Kuroda said.
"Reaching a broad political and social consensus needed to develop a far-reaching pan-Asian grand plan of regional integration does not appear feasible at this stage," he said.
Instead, Asia and the Pacific should adopt a "multi-speed" approach to cooperation, where a few countries can start working together on selected common issues, leaving the option for other countries to join later, he said.
"For now, it is best to respond to the expressed desire of countries to cooperate on a limited number of promising areas first, and then build on these by gradually deepening and widening the scope of cooperation in the coming years."
Asian nations have recently initiated steps to close ranks in a tighter union.
At a summit in the Philippines in January, Southeast Asian leaders agreed to set up a free-trade zone by 2015 _ five years earlier than previously proposed.
According to the plan, the 10-nation free trade zone of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, will be adopted in two stages, with the six richer nations _ including wealthy Singapore and oil-rich Brunei _ starting the integration in 2010 and the others following later.
Kuroda said linking up fragmented national markets for goods, services and capital is a priority.
"The key challenge is how to consolidate and streamline the 192 bilateral or sub-regional free trade agreements at various stages of negotiation or implementation," he said.
