Imagine selling maggi noodles or ashok masalas or maurti cars or bajaj scooters to a market of 3 billion people, stretching from the India all the way to the bottom of New Zealand's map - oh wow!
Mr Manmohan Singh, the humble economist PM of India, called it the "Arc of prosperity" in Singapore yesterday.
With the free trade deals among ASEAN and the 'big' economies of the rest of Asia - India, China, Korea and Japan and ANZ - the stage seems to be set for this huge umiaginable single market of 3 billion people.
This wont be as easy as the EU.
Its ambitious, its going to be tough, its got Myanmar! - but its not impossible.
Most countries in the Southeast Asia region dont have the individual economic muscle to dine at the high tables of India and China. Its the ambition to stay relevant in the global context that has brought about this concepet hence it comes as a gesture of great prudence and future planning on part of the thinkers and leaders of these 10 countries.
While India is facing its share of hassels in negotiating the India-ASEAN FTA because of the pace at which some countries are moving vary.
So the faster way forward is to go bilateral as well. Because ultimately it all comes down to practicality.
The slowest coach need not slow down entire train. For at the end of the day, the government and business leaders can only keep stiving to stay competitive, regardless of the merits of other parts of the world.
The sceptics have a good reason to point at the speed checks that are bound to come along India's way to progress, such as the complexities brought on by varying political systems.
But contries and people who get places are the ones who ...................KEEP MOVING!
Thursday, November 22, 2007
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