RIS has been engaged since 2001 in a major research programme developing a proposal and the way forward of an Asian Economic Community that is broader than the ongoing subregional and bilateral approaches for regional economic integration in Southeast and South Asia and would enable the region to exploit full potential of synergies. The proposed Asian Economic Community could be built in a phased manner with Japan, ASEAN China, Korea (JACIK) providing the initial core. This research programme is supported by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF), Tokyo and is conducted in collaboration with major policy think-tanks in Asia. In the first phase of the programme conducted during 2001/03, a major international conference on "Building a New Asia: Towards an Asian Economic Community" was organized by RIS in New Delhi on March 10-11, 2003 in collaboration with the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research, and Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Jakarta. The New Delhi Conference had found a compelling case for the proposed Asian Economic Community and mandated RIS to keep active the network of think-tanks evolved at the conference and continue the work to promote the concept. In the Second Phase of the Programme (2003/06), a number of activities are being undertaken as mandated by the New Delhi Conference. This includes the launch of a network of policy think-tanks, a quarterly journal, a volume based on the presentations of 2003 conference, organization of New Asia Conferences in 2004 (Tokyo) and 2005 (New Delhi) besides preparation of a number of studies on specific aspects of cooperation. In what follows we summarize the work done during the first year (2003/04) of the Second Phase of the programme and the plans for 2004/05.