ASEAN business summit<\/p>\n
The ASEAN Business and Investment Summit in Bali, starting on
\nSaturday, is timely as it will immediately be followed by the
\nsummit of ASEAN heads of government and by a series of summit
\nmeetings between ASEAN leaders with government leaders from
\nJapan, China, South Korea and India.<\/p>\n
The business summit also has a strategic role in creating
\nmomentum for the process of developing an ASEAN economic
\ncommunity (AEC) as it will be attended by business leaders from
\n14 countries -- the 10 ASEAN members and the other four
\ncountries. After all, in the final analysis, it is businesspeople
\nnot governments that trade and make business deals.<\/p>\n
The AEC -- first mooted by Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok
\nTong last year -- is one of three basic concepts expected to be
\nadopted by the ASEAN summit, in addition to the ideas of ASEAN
\nSocial and Cultural Community and ASEAN Security Community,
\ninitiated by Indonesia as host country.<\/p>\n
The AEC seeks to lead the 10 ASEAN countries into a more
\nstreamlined and integrated economic community through the ASEAN
\nFree Trade Area (AFTA) which was launched early this year.<\/p>\n
AFTA itself strives to remove tariff and non-tariff barriers
\n-- to trade in goods and services and to investment -- thereby
\nmaking the ASEAN countries more competitive to direct foreign
\ninvestors. A common market of more than 500 million consumers is
\nexpected to make ASEAN more viable for regional production
\nnetworks by capitalizing on local comparative advantages and
\neconomies of scale.<\/p>\n
However, there are still many issues to be resolved to smooth
\nAFTA as a mechanism in paving the way for the creation of AEC
\n(slated for 2020). Hence, the business summit could be an
\neffective forum for businesspeople as market players. Not only
\nfor networking but also for exchanging views. To reach an
\nunderstanding on the most appropriate way to speed up the pace of
\nAFTA and to understand what measures the governments in ASEAN can
\npursue in order to create an environment conducive to free trade
\nand investment.<\/p>\n
The 1997 economic crisis -- which hit several ASEAN countries
\n-- has certainly affected the AFTA process. Members --
\npreoccupied with domestic political, economic and social
\nuncertainties -- tended to look inward. Indonesia, for example,
\nhas shown a stronger tendency to raise import tariffs or even
\nerect new non-tariff barriers to protect its industries.<\/p>\n
But it is time to revisit regional preferential trading and
\ninvestment arrangements with a heightened spirit. This is
\nespecially urgent in the wake of the failure of the recent World
\nTrade Organization ministerial conference in Cancun, Mexico, to
\nmake significant progress in the areas of greatest interest to
\ndeveloping countries.<\/p>\n
Indonesia itself has increasingly realized how important the
\ncontribution of intra-regional trade and economic cooperation is
\nin the process of economic recovery. For example, most of the
\nforeign direct investments that entered Indonesia over the past
\nthree years -- notably those via asset acquisition -- came from
\nASEAN members, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Once again this
\nunderlined a greater interdependence within the region.<\/p>\n
We are confident that -- judging from its agenda -- the
\nbusiness summit will be highly effective and that feasible yet
\ninnovative recommendations will be made to the ASEAN summit on
\nhow to accelerate the AFTA process.<\/p>\n
Hopefully, business leaders will be able to convince ASEAN
\nleaders of the vital importance of AEC, as the final goal of
\nAFTA.<\/p>\n
This is a crucial moment. Indonesia, the largest market in
\nASEAN with more than 215 million people (and the hardest hit by
\nthe 1997 economic crisis) is given the oppurtunity to present
\nstrong leadership by setting a good example in honoring its
\ncommitments to AFTA.<\/p>\n
Lack of leadership will only weaken ASEAN's bargaining
\nposition to negotiate free trading arrangements (FTAs) with such
\nmajor trading countries as South Korea, China, Japan and India.
\nWorse still, impatient ASEAN members might break ranks and
\nindividually conclude FTAs with other countries -- as Singapore
\nhas done with Japan and the United States.<\/p>\n
Both the summit meetings of ASEAN business leaders and heads
\nof government should produce a stronger commitment to the
\nacceleration of the AFTA process and the adoption of AEC -- at
\nleast as a general concept to be worked out in subsequent
\nmeetings. Anything less than this outcome may erode the relevancy
\nof ASEAN, as a regional economic cooperation concept.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/asean-business-summit-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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