Publication

This paper argues that the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) signed between India and Singapore appears to be part of a larger process of Asian integration. The author states that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and Singapore, in particular, has been playing successfully the role of go-between in the task of bringing Asian countries together and claims that with the economic rise of India and China, East Asia and South Asia will not remain distinct entities. While improved India-Pakistan relations open up the possibility of energy cooperation between Central and Southeast Asia, the division between China and Japan and US opposition are seen as the main obstacles to greater regional cooperation in Asia.