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"The real drivers for trade and investment integration will be the private sector," Abhisit said.

He said that the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta) was a good beginning towards integration. "But we have to do much, much more."

Abhisit also said "smaller business entities", referring to small and medium-sized enterprises, should not be left behind in the process of integration.

He stressed on the importance of closer cooperation between the private sector and the public sector, as well as between the private sectors within Asean.

And he expressed optimism for Asean to achieve its shared dream of becoming one community.

"During Thailand's chairmanship, let me ensure you that Asean will be closer towards realizing the dream of the founding fathers to build a strong and prosperous community for caring and sharing society," he said.

The prime minister was addressing business leaders from 10 member states and 11 other countries attending the 2008 Asean Business and Investment Summit (BIS). The conference, which began on Wednesday and ends on Friday, took place at Bangkok's Plaza Athenee hotel.

The business leaders' summit, an event held side by side with the 14th Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, was rescheduled after the annual meeting of the government leaders was postponed from December.

Arin Jira, chairman of the Asean Business Advisory Council, hailed the business leaders' summit as a success. However, he repeated his disappointment over a lack of participation by Asean government leaders apart from the Thai prime minister.

Arin said the BIS would be "closer to perfection" with more participation by Asean government leaders.

Abhisit said on Friday that the 10 Asean leaders would meet with business executives and representatives from the civil sector during the summit this weekend in Cha-am, Phetchaburi.

Meanwhile, the top executive of one of Thailand's largest companies suggested during a BIS session ways for Asean to get out of the current global economic crisis.

Kan Trakulhoon, president and CEO of Siam Cement Group, said that Asean needs to unite, promote a joint brand and collaborate more to survive the crisis.

He said that Asean must become a "single market of diverse sectors", which means businesses from the member countries should avoid producing similar products in order to avoid competition.

The SCG's top boss stressed on the need for more integration and collaboration among Asean member countries to survive the economic crisis.

He also suggested Asean manufacturers to create a joint brand by identifying the products are made in Asean. For example, after the place of origin, such as "Made in Thailand", there should be the phrase "A member of Asean". By doing this, the manufacturers would attract more interest in Asean, he said.

Kan also called on people from the member states to have less focus on their nationality but instead getting proud to be part of Asean as a whole.