Ambitious Asia plan to power Australia: PM Gillard

SYDNEY (AFP) - An ambitious plan aimed at maximising links with booming China and other soaring Asian economies will power Australia into the world's top 10 wealthiest nations by 2025, the Australian government said on Sunday.

The sweeping policy blueprint, titled "Australia in the Asian Century", sets a series of lofty goals for the next 13 years to seize upon Asia's rapid ascent as a global economic powerhouse led by the modernisation of China and India.

"The scale and pace of Asia's rise is staggering, and there are significant opportunities and challenges for all Australians," Prime Minister Julia Gillard said. "It is not enough to rely on luck - our future will be determined by the choices we make and how we engage with the region we live in," she said.

By 2025 Ms Gillard said Australia's GDP per person - a measure of personal wealth - would jump into the world's top 10, joining the likes of Qatar, Singapore, Hong Kong, Brunei, the United Arab Emirates and the United States.