Southeast Asia Speeds Single Market Plan

Malaysia Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, center, helps his Minister of Trade and Industry Rafidah Aziz, as ASEAN Economic Ministers look on while getting down from the stage after the opening of the 38th ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2006. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations should harmonize domestic trade laws fast enough to turn the region into a single economic community by 2015, five years ahead of schedule, Malaysia's prime minister said Tuesday. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) (Andy Wong - AP)

"If we do not hasten the creation of that regional single market, ASEAN may run the risk of losing its position as an important investment destination," Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said in opening the five-day meeting.

"Certain changes in national legislation might become necessary to enable regional liberalization initiatives to succeed," he said, without elaborating.

Ong said the region's trade delegates _ who met within minutes after Abdullah addressed them _ agreed to proposal for 2015.

"There is no objection to the position mapped out by Abdullah," said Ong. "The ASEAN way is that we all come together, we go together, and the less developed economies, we will help them."

A wide economic gulf divides ASEAN's six more developed nations _ Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Thailand and the Philippines _ and its four newer members _ communist Vietnam and Laos, military-ruled Myanmar and Cambodia in a region home to 560 million people.

Most Southeast Asian countries keep a tight grip over key industries such as banking, health care and transport. Such policies hinder economic progress and conformity, analysts say.

Abdullah said changes to domestic legislation was necessary if ASEAN were to mesh its diverse economies.

ASEAN's external trade neared $1 trillion in 2004, Abdullah said.

Also Tuesday, the bloc said it has completed its revision on customs practices, reducing the number of tariff-eligible items by nearly 2,500 to 8,285. The new rules come into effect from January 2007, ASEAN said in a statement.