As oil prices show no signs of declining and transportation of goods becomes costlier, Asia is looking ahead. The region is strategically strengthening trade ties with its neighbors in order to improve the Asian economy. Boosting trade and tourism ties, the bloc of South East Asian countries also plans on raising funds to build missing links to a railway system from Singapore to Kunming in Southern China, connecting eight Asian countries by 2010
On Thursday, ASEAN also finalized free trade agreements with India and its Pacific neighbors Australia and New Zealand, creating a common market of 1.7 billion consumers, cutting across some of the world’s fastest growing economies. The deal will be formalized by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Bangkok this December and will be effective from January 2009. It will allow seamless and duty-free movement of goods across territories. India and China are also expected to sign trade agreements with each other that will boost economic synergies between them in December.
Foreign ministers of 20 Member countries of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) met in AlmaAta, Kazakhstan on Monday to strengthen pan Asian cooperation on security issues plaguing the region. The CICA includes Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Egypt, Iran, India, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Palestine, Russia, Tajikistan, Thailand, South Korea, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Jordan and the United Emirates. Indonesia, Japan, the United States, Vietnam, the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Arab League are observer countries /organizations to the CICA.
Chinese President Hu Jintao will visit South Korea, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan on a three nation tour starting today to boost bilateral ties, strengthen its borders and gain prominence in Central Asia, a region being viewed by everyone interested in energy security.
As heavy downpours continue to flood South Asia, the waters have killed 147 people, swamped villages and caused landslides. Most of the deaths were due to house collapses triggered by incessant rains in India, Bangladesh and the Philippines. As more rain is forecast in the next 48 hours, officials have already begun evacuating people to higher and safer places.