President Maithripala Sirisena on Saturday (28) called for increased intra-regional integration in Asia based on a new thinking on Asian growth strategy and more cooperative partnership among the community of Asia.

Speaking at the Boao Forum for Asia at Hainan, China, Sirisena said that Asian countries are still largely dependent on extra-regional markets. He asked as to how a common destiny for Asia can be achieved under these circumstances.

He added that the answer to this problem can include developing appropriate public policies, strategies to respond to these challenges while taking into consideration the specific differences in respective countries.

Sirisena pointed out that Boao forum can play a significant role to achieve our collective vision of an Asian community of common destiny. Sri Lanka can play an important role in this since it has shown a relatively high growth among emerging markets, the president added.