"Such a community would release enormous energies," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told attendees of the Third India-ASEAN Business Summit in New Delhi recently. "One cannot but be captivated at the vision of an integrated market, spanning the distance from the Himalayas to the Pacific Ocean, linked by efficient road, rail, air and shipping services."

The community, he added, would account for half the world's population, equal the size of the European Union in income, be larger than the North American Free Trade Agreement in trade and have foreign exchange reserves exceeding that of EU and NAFTA combined.