Lee invites India to join ASEAN's new economic partnership

**New Delhi:**Singapore Prime Minister LeeHsien Loong today pitched for India’s active participation inASEAN’s new Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership tolend stability in the region.

Effusive about India’s rise in the past 20 years as anemerging economy, Lee said he discussed the issue of RCEPduring his meetings with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singhand other ministers and urged them to take a positive decisionwith regard to this.

[caption id=“attachment_376153” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The Singapore PM asked India to join ASEAN’s new economic partnership.[/caption]

“We want India to be partners in RCEP. I have beendiscussing this in my meetings so that India can be activelyengaged in the region. India’s participation will enhancestability and add influence,” he told ‘Singapore Symposium’here.

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“We welcome you to participate in the ASEAN forum so thatit will help keep ASEAN relevant,” he said.Asean’s new Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnershipwill enhance India’s access to its market of 600 million.

He said ASEAN needs to be strengthened and all member-countries and Asian nations like India, China and Japan shouldhelp in this process.

To a question how the world will be in 2032, theSingapore Prime Minister said it would be “radicallydifferent” if India and China, whose per capita income thenwould be 5 to 10 times higher than now, engage peacefully.

“If the transformation does not take peacefully and ifthere is a fracture either because of economic reasons orstrategic reasons and I hope not leading to militarymisunderstanding ending up in agrravation between America and

China or China and India, it will be a different world,” hesaid.

PTI