Prime Minister Manmohan Singhwill travel to Cambodia tomorrow to attend the ASEAN and EastAsia Summits on the sidelines of which he is expected to meetleaders of some other countries, including China.
Singh, who was initially scheduled to visit Japan alsobefore it was cancelled, will be in the Cambodian capitalPhnom Penh for three days.
The three-day visit to Japan from November 15 wascancelled just a day ahead in view of sudden politicaldevelopments there with Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda decidingto announce early elections.
During his visit to Cambodia, Singh is expected to pitchfor increased trade and investment between India and ASEAN, agrouping of 10 South East Asian countries, against thebackdrop of economic crisis hitting Europe and other parts ofthe western world.
India and ASEAN are holding negotiations on a Free TradeAgreement in Services and Investment and are keen to concludethese before the Summit on November 19. The two sides havealready signed FTA in Goods.
During the last India-ASEAN Summit held in Bali inIndonesia, Singh had cited the global economic downturn topush for conclusion of a "commercially-meaningful" Servicesand Investment pact by March this year to create a positiveatmosphere for implementation of the Comprehensive EconomicCooperation Agreement.
He had also highlighted the need for greater connectivityand cooperation on security issues, including maritimesecurity, counter-terrorism, training, exercises and disastermanagement.
Addressing the Summit, Singh had described India's partnership with ASEAN as "one of the cornerstones" offoreign policy and the foundation of our 'Look East' Policy.
India-ASEAN trade has been increasing at rapid pace overlast few years and has already crossed the USD 70 billiontarget set for 2012. It currently stands at USD 79 billion.
India's trade with ASEAN was over USD 50 billion in2011-12 after a 30 per cent jump over the previous financialyear.
The Prime Minister is also expected to update the ASEANleaders on the progress made on revival of the centre oflearning at Nalanda, Bihar.
On the sidelines of the ASEAN and EAS Summits, Singh isexpected to meet Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao besides leaders ofsome other countries.
US President Barack Obama will also be in Phnom Penh butit is not yet clear whether there will be meeting betweenSingh and him because of paucity of time.