Asean 'may be the next factory of the world'

Singapore

A REPORT by the Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) Banking Group has predicted that Asean will still not have developed into a fully integrated common market by the end of this year, when it becomes an economic community.

However, this setback is unlikely to stop it from becoming Asia's third engine of growth alongside China and India, and replacing China as the world's factory, said the report, released on Friday and entitled "Asean, The Next Horizon".

Singapore, being the financial hub and having the related talents in this area, is tipped to play banker in Asean's growth into a m…