Asian countries should engage each other more proactively: Singapore Minister

New Delhi, Mar 20: Visiting Singapore's Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong on Saturday said that Asian countries should now start engaging each other more proactively.

Addressing the Asia Society Corporate Conference in the national capital, Tong, who is in India on a two-day official visit, said that cooperation between the countries would go a long way in facilitating a new global architecture revolving around Asia.

"Stability in the relations between the major powers, such as between the US and China, as well as between China and India, will continue to be key. There will always be inherent tensions in these great power relationships as they compete for influence, markets, and resources,' Tong said.

"But there are also built-in stabilizers in the growing interdependence of countries in a globalized and deeply interconnected world,' he said.

He also said that reordering of the global power structure was inevitable as Asia continues to grow, and for the region to make the most of the new order, major and emerging powers would need to learn to adjust and accommodate each other.

"The European Union is not the benchmark for the eventual shape of the regional architecture in Asia. Instead, regional architecture in Asia will be much more fluid with many overlapping layers and mechanisms in order to accommodate the disparate political, cultural and economic interests in the region,' Tong added.