TRANSPORT Minister Raymond Lim on Thursday urged his Asean counterparts to push for liberalisation as a means to help the region ride through the current financial turmoil.

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Speaking at the 14th Asean Transport Ministers Meeting in Manila, he said: 'Further liberalisation in the transport sector will support Asean economies through this bumpy economic period by stimulating more businesses, trade, investment and people flows in and through our region'.

'This will help counteract the recessionary pressures in Asean economies as the major economies tighten their belts.'

As part of a long-term plan to fully liberalise the skies over the region by 2015, the 10-member grouping is working towards lifting all restrictions between capital cities by Dec 1.

While some countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand have made significant strides in this area, others like Indonesia and the Philippines have been reluctant to quicken the pace of liberalisation.

The concern is that their national carriers are not strong enough to compete effectively with other airlines in the region.

Stressing the need for a timely implementation of the roadmap towards liberalisation, Mr Lim said: 'It is important for Asean's international credibility that we do so, given the close attention the world has paid to the progress of our efforts on this front to date.'

He noted that the growth of many advanced economies, such as the United States, Britain and Germany is expected to slow down to 0.5 per cent next year.

'Many countries have already sunk into, or are on the brink of recession. In Asia, the outlook is slightly brighter - the International Monetary Fund (IMF) still expects economic expansion in many countries in emerging Asia,' said Mr Lim.

Growth though is expected to be moderate ? 9.25 per cent for China and 7 per cent for India.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has shaved its forecast for Asean's growth rate this year by 1 per cent 'but we are still expected to hit 5.5 per cent', Mr Lim said.

With capacity cuts expected in air travel as airlines grapple to deal with the crisis that has hit their business, 'new routes led by the low-cost carrier sector are set to play an increasingly important role in shoring up domestic and international air travel.'

'Families and businesses will cut back on holidays or work trips to far-flung locations and probably opt to travel to nearer destinations', said Mr Lim.

'These shifts in demand and travel patterns are good opportunities for market expansion in the intra-Asean region travel', he added.