Regional Cooperation in Asia: Status and Issues

The views are personal and not of the institution to which the authors belong to. The authors are indebted to Dr. R.K.Pattnaik, Adviser, for his encouragement and support. Rajiv Ranjan, Rajeev Jain, Atri Mukherjee* The paper attempts to review the growing economic dynamism of the Asian region reflected in its expanding role in the world economic affairs and growing cooperation at regional/sub-regional level. Before the ensuing discussion on assessment of existing arrangements for economic cooperation in the region and India’s participation in the process, the paper briefly provides a macroeconomic review of the Asian region. Lastly, the paper identifies the major issues and challenges which need to be addressed for furthering a successful move towards greater regional economic and monetary cooperation. The upshot is that the process of economic integration in the Asian region is not without ifs and buts. JEL Classification: R1, R1