ASEAN-INDIA FORUM
ASEAN-INDIA ECONOMIC RELATIONS: THE ROAD AHEAD
Date: 9-10 February 2004
Venue: Grand Ballroom I, Level 4, Grand Copthrone Waterfront Hotel, Singapore

The Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS) is organizing the ASEAN-India Forum. The theme of this Forum will be “ASEAN-India Economic Relations: The Road Ahead" and it will be held on 9-10 February 2004 at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel in Singapore.

Economic cooperation between ASEAN and India has intensified significantly ever since India embarking on its "Look-East Policy" in the early 1990s. In order to give relations a further impetus, at the first ASEAN-India Summit in Cambodia in November 2002, India proposed a closer economic partnership (CEP) with ASEAN with a view to establish a free trade area within a decade. For its part, ASEAN has traditionally engaged all the major powers of the world. India's rising economic strength has the potential to provide considerable opportunities for ASEAN countries individually and collectively.

Despite closer business and government links, serious and in-depth research on relations between ASEAN and India has been rather limited. In order to fill this gap, this Forum attempts to bring together experts from government, business and the academia, from both India and ASEAN countries to provide ideas and suggestions to qualitatively and quantitatively enhance ASEAN-India economic relations. The Forum will analyze the opportunities and challenges for expanding economic relations in all areas, including merchandise and services trade, and in foreign direct investment (FDI), and on sub-regional cooperation with ASEAN’s transitional economies.

Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Singapore, would be the keynote speaker for this event.

The speakers include:

• Professor Kirit S Parikh, Chairman Integrated Research and Action for Development (IRADe), New Delhi.

• Dr Nagesh Kumar, Director-General, Research and Information Systems for the Non-Aligned and Developing Countries (RIS), New Delhi.

• Professor Mohd Ariff, Executive Director, Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER), Malaysia.

• Associate Professor Suthiphand Chirathivat from the Department of Economics, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.

Participants to the Forum will be charged a fee of S$ 150.00. This fee will entitle participants to a set of papers by the speakers, lunch, and two coffee/tea breaks for both days of the Forum.

Click here to download the Registration Form.

Acceptances will be on a first-come-first-served basis. Please send in your response, attentioned to Ms Karthi Nair (at the address below), together with payment by cheque duly crossed and made payable to the “Institute of Southeast Asian Studies”, 30 Heng Mui Keng Terrace, Pasir Panjang, Singapore 119614, by Tuesday, 27 January 2004.

For further enquiries, please call Ms Karthi at tel: 6870-2413 or fax: 6775-6264/6775-6259.