2009-10-22 07:00:50 - ASEAN and the European Commission today signed a financing agreement aimed at capacity building for a strengthened intellectual property rights (IPR) regime in the region. "This is an important piece of the jigsaw to lay the foundation for the protection of IPRs in the region", said Dr Surin Pitsuwan, the Secretary-General of ASEAN, at the signing ceremony held in Bangkok today. Thailand's Deputy Commerce Minister Alongkorn Ponlaboot and Ambassador David Lipman, Head of the European Commission Delegation in Bangkok, were also in attendance.

Ten nation meet at Thailand is to sign the ASEAN Free Trade agreement between themselves which will help the region to grow at faster pace with less of red tapism and government edifice coming to their rescue and awareness emerging at rapid speed to enhance the global market.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabo and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will have an "important" meeting in Thailand on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit, of 2009,at the resorts of Cha-am and Hua Hin in Thailand. Their meet at Asean summit said the Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Hu Zhengyue in Beijing, Wen and Singh will meet in Thailand during which they will discuss "bilateral relations, and regional and international issues"This meeting between the two prime

ministers is a very important one," Hu said."There has been good progress in our bilateral relationship and we hope this momentum can be sustained."

Wen had expressed his desire to meet Singh on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit begining on Friday.Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit will be followed by a meeting with partners Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.

India needs to balance the trade opporunities which are on ts way from western countries and Asian regions .Being part of Asian region India needs to have closer economic ties and ways of coping better with devastating natural disasters in the region will be on the agenda as Asian leaders gather in Thailand this week.

Asean countries making the right choice of free trade from rail roads, sea corridors, and silk route is the next best for the agglomerate of Asians countries trade merging and extension.Leaders of this region likely to discuss measures to further integrate their economies by bringing down trade and financial barriers and making it easier for professionals, business executives and skilled labour to work across the region.

Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs, Mr. N. Ravi said that the India-ASEAN Summit will further increase with the impetus it has already got and will be further consolidated in the Summit.

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh will attend the 7th India-ASEAN Summit at Hua Hin followed by the 4th East Asia Summit. He is also likely to have bilateral meetings with several leaders during his stay in Thailand.