EU'S Crisis Should Not Stop Asean From Becoming One, Says CEO Of CIMB Group

KUALA LUMPUR, June 13 (Bernama) -- Asean economies should not take the European Union as a lesson, to be afraid of becoming one economy as the potential which lies ahead of the 10-member grouping is enormous, says Nazir Razak. The CIMB Group Holdings Bhd Chief Executive Officer said the issue of the European Union falling apart due to the recent debt crisis was not because of economic integration but that of becoming a single currency bloc. Nazir said the economic integration among member countries of the European Union was something that must be emulated by Asean member nations but the grouping should not even think about a monetary union based on the European experience. "Asean has never contemplated and in future, in my view, even put the proposal for a monetary integration on the table. "So, we must not get nervous about Asean integration just because of Europe," he added. Their problem is not economic integration but actually the single currency initiative," he told reporters on the sidelines of the CIMB Asean Conference 2012. Nazir said the challenge now was to start acting as one region, to evolve policy coordination into a common framework and to manage and grow a regional economy. "In particular, I would like to see an agreement on an Asean banking framework, the creation of a single Asean stock exchange and greater regional collaboration to strengthen domestic currency bond markets," he added. To make the initiatives work, Nazir said the Asean business community had a huge role in the proposed economic integration, and corporates must encourage their respective governments and leaders to stay on course for the purpose. He added only by increasing intra-Asean activity, the region can find new levers for growth in the face of stalling external demand. Nazir said the region must vigorously grow trade by pursuing free trade agreements, whether individually or as a grouping, and bring down barriers, especially non-trade barriers, within the region. "We must also capitalise on our demographic dividend. We are blessed with a young population that is urbanising rapidly. "The key bottleneck in tapping this is infrastructure, particularly in logistics and connectivity. "If our relevance lies in being the crossroads of Asia, the meeting place and connector, we must make sure our connectivity infrastructure is up to the task, and our cities are capable of absorbing and channeling the productive energies of millions of new entrants every year into the global workforce," he said. Nazir said the Asean region must join hands to unblock the key bottleneck to building this infrastructure which was not the non-availability of financing but financial intermediation. -- BERNAMA