The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) wants to achieve integration of 11 industry sectors before 2010, when a Free Trade Agreeement with China is expected to have been agreed.

The 11 sectors are wood, rubber, autos, textiles, electronics, agriculture, e-commerce, fisheries, health care, air travel and tourism.

Officials said economic integration is crucial for Asean to better compete with fast-growing economies like China and India.

Experts say even though Asia has rebounded strongly from the 1997-98 regional financial crisis, economic integration remains a major problem due to citing uneven economic and political development.

The ministers met Thursday to discuss ways to make Asean an attractive investment location through an initiative called the Asean Investment Area, an Indonesian trade ministry official said.

The talks were due to be followed by a meeting on the Asean Free Trade Area, he added.

The Asean ministers are also scheduled to meet counterparts from dialogue partners China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand and the European Union on Saturday and Sunday.

At their summit in Bali last October, Asean leaders endorsed a plan to achieve a single production base and market by 2020, with a free flow of goods, services and investments in the region.

The Southeast Asian leaders also launched the first phase of a free trade agreement to be fully developed with China by 2010 to create the world's biggest trade zone. Similar plans are in the works with South Korea and India.

In the 1980s and 1990s Asean members such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand enjoyed rapid economic growth as a result of investment by transnational corporations and the establishment of export industries. However, since then, global investment flows had shifted dramatically to China, taking advantage of its far lower labour costs.