SINGAPORE, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong Tuesday called on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to make greater efforts to pool its resources and deepen regional integration.

    Delivering a keynote speech at the ASEAN lecture on the eve of the bloc's 40th anniversary, Lee, whose country has just taken over the ASEAN chairmanship from the Philippines last week, offered two reasons why the ASEAN 10 members must work hard for closer ASEAN integration.

    The first is that the ASEAN has no choice but integrate to survive, the prime minister said, noting that "the rise of China and India has transformed the strategic landscape and created new dynamics within Asia."

    Founded on Aug. 8, 1967, the ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

    Companies and investors around the world are focusing their energies on the two emerging giants -- China and India, and regions like the Gulf States and Eastern Europe are also reforming their economies and becoming attractive investment destinations, while many investors today see ASEAN as ten isolated, scattered national economies, too small to be worth paying attention to.

    So he warned that "If ASEAN's integration stagnates while the rest of Asia forges ahead, we will be left behind and become irrelevant."

    To keep efforts on track, Lee stressed that the more developed ASEAN members can and should take the lead in setting the pace of integration for the rest to follow.

    "We should look for creative and flexible approaches to accelerate integration, despite the diversity of the region," he said.

    "One way is for ASEAN countries which are ready to move ahead first, either bilaterally or as a smaller sub-group. Others can join in later when they are ready. This will give regional integration a much needed boost," added Lee.

    The second reason for integration, Lee said, is to create a united and coherent ASEAN organization so that it is favorably positioned as the basis of the new regional architecture.

    He urged that if ASEAN is disunited or ineffective, it will lose the privileged position of being courted by various players, adding that "ASEAN needs to show that it is able to look beyond narrow short-term interests in the pursuit of broader strategic goals."

    Noting his country's role in guiding regional integration during the one-year ASEAN chairmanship, the prime minister said firstly it will focus on strengthening ASEAN internally.

    The key reference point will be the ASEAN Charter, which is expected to transform the grouping into a more effective, rules-based organization and will be signed at the 13th ASEAN Summit in Singapore this November.

    Singapore will also draw up the economic blueprint for the establishment of the ASEAN economic community by 2015. This blueprint will set out specific goals and targets for a single ASEAN market and production base.

    Second, Singapore will deepen community building efforts to create an ASEAN that is embraced by its people, Lee said.

    It will also deepen ASEAN's engagement of external powers, such as making efforts to build an East Asian community, strengthening ASEAN+1 dialogue relationships, as well as pushing for the early completion of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations.

    Singapore will also be pursuing global issues and ensure that the grouping remains relevant and constructive within the wider international discourse. The summits in Singapore will be addressing the inter-related issues of energy, environment, climate change and sustainable development.

    The lecture, the fifth in a series which began in 2003, was co-organized by the ASEAN Secretariat and the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

    Later, Lee and the ASEAN nations' ambassadors unveiled a set of ASEAN commemorative stamps, which feature the ancient and modern architectures of the 10 nations.