ASEAN urged to open up, unite to be attractive<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse, Putrajaya, Malaysia<\/p>\n
Southeast Asian nations must speed up efforts to integrate their
\neconomies and liberalise their markets to stay attractive to
\nforeign investors, a business group said on Monday.<\/p>\n
Rudy Pesik, chairman of the ASEAN Business Advisory Council,
\nsaid the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
\nhad emerged from the 1997\/98 economic crisis on a stronger
\nfooting and was working on a series of free trade pacts with
\nChina, India, the U.S. and others.<\/p>\n
However, it must accelerate steps to ease the movement of
\ngoods and capital so that when foreigners \"invest in one ASEAN
\ncountry, it's like investing in the whole region,\" Pe.usik said.<\/p>\n
\"ASEAN is now a prima donna, everyone wants to work with us,\"
\nhe told reporters at the start of a two-day council meeting here.<\/p>\n
\"But we should be prepared to be more competitive vis-a-vis
\nthe rest of the world. When foreign investors look at any one
\ncountry in ASEAN, they will be dealing with 550 million
\nconsumers, not only 22 million in Malaysia.\"<\/p>\n
The abolition of tariffs under the ASEAN Free Trade Area,
\nhaving standard rules of origin for products and visa-free travel
\nin the region would be a boon, he said.<\/p>\n
The council, comprising key business leaders, is finalizing
\nrecommendations for an integrated and competitive regional
\neconomy to be submitted to ASEAN leaders at their summit on
\nIndonesia's Bali island next month, he said.<\/p>\n
They include the development of a regional regulatory
\nframework to boost ASEAN's competitiveness, facilitate creation
\nof business partnerships and day-to-day business transactions and
\noperations.<\/p>\n
Pesik said there were plans to establish a trading house
\ndubbed \"House of ASEAN\" in key cities worldwide to profile ASEAN
\nproducts and boost exports for small- and medium-sized
\nindustries.<\/p>\n
An ASEAN trade mission is being formed to jointly market the
\nregion to other countries and an ASEAN business community will be
\nset up to serve as an \"executive club\" for networking and trade
\npurposes, he said.<\/p>\n
Pesik said ASEAN businesses viewed China as a big market,
\nrather than a threat, and expected potential growth from the
\ncreation of a joint free trade area, the world's largest, by
\n2010.<\/p>\n
\"It is not possible for China to absorb all the foreign
\ninvestment. Through cooperation with ASEAN, a lot of FDI will be
\nchannelled to the region and still it will not hurt China,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
In conjunction with the ASEAN leaders' summit, he said the
\ncouncil would hold a three-day business and investment conference
\nin Bali from October 5 involving some 1,000 participants.<\/p>\n
The conference will involve dialogue with government leaders
\nand an exhibition on investment opportunies in the region.<\/p>\n
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
\nMyanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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