Speaking at the SMU Ministerial Forum held on Wednesday, Law and Foreign Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said that an integrated ASEAN would have a GDP of US$2.2 trillion (S$2.8 trillion), bigger than that of India. He added that for Singapore to become the New York of an integrated ASEAN region, the country needed to have “a vision that will transcend all the difficulties that we have.” Minister Shanmugam also stressed that an economically-integrated ASEAN is “not entirely within our hands” as this would depend on the region’s stability. This was the second forum of its kind organised by SMU’s Apolitical Association. The forum was attended by almost 300 tertiary students from local universities, junior colleges and polytechnics.