A strong plea for multilateralism was made by speakers from Africa, European Union and ASEAN groupings at the Partnership Summit in Chennai today. They were speaking in the session on how to move seamlessly from regional integration to global partnerships.<br/><br/>Chairing the plenary Michael Yeoh, Chief Executive officer, Asian Strategic and Leadership Institute, Malaysia said it is important for regional groups to explore global partnerships. He said it would be important if the resumed WTO negotiations on trade practices would be able to reach a consensus.<br/><br/>Mr Tarun Khanna, Professor, Harvard Business School, discussing regional trade integration and the role India can play said developing countries need to tackle the problems of financial and talent inclusion.<br/><br/>Chair of the UK- IBC Patricia Hewitt said that big countries like India could hold its own in any negotiations with any country in the world. She called for equal partnership and equal respect in trade between developed and developing countries. She said it was no longer realistic to visualize trade negotiations determined by Brussels and Washington alone.<br/><br/>ASEAN Deputy Secretary General Mr S. Pushpanathan said that the global economic recovery was led by Asia. He said ASEAN Economic community would be established by 2015, the objective was to narrow developmental gaps between ASEAN member states.