U.S. business group expects ASEAN to lure back investments<\/p>\n
KUALA LUMPUR (Dow Jones): The U.S.-ASEAN Business Council said
\nSaturday it expects foreign investment flows to Southeast Asia to
\npick up, despite the region's cloudy economic prospects.<\/p>\n
While the struggling economies of Japan and the U.S. \"makes
\neconomic recovery prospects in the near term for ASEAN unclear,\"
\nprogress on financial sector reforms and corporate restructuring,
\nand the regional grouping's \"inherent advantages\" - particularly
\nthe formation of the ASEAN Free Trade Area and other regional
\neconomic cooperation initiatives - will help lure capital back to
\nSoutheast Asia, said Ernest Bower, the president of the business
\ncouncil.<\/p>\n
Still, he noted the \"different levels of progress\" in
\ncorporate restructuring in the region, adding that \"there's a lot
\nmore to be done.\"<\/p>\n
\"ASEAN has a great opportunity to pull back its share of
\nforeign direct investments that have been lost, in some part, to
\nChina over the decade of the 1990s,\" Bower said. \"We want to be
\npart of that recovery.\"<\/p>\n
Bower said that although foreign investment flows to ASEAN
\nhave fallen for the past several years, the U.S. has increased
\nits investment to the region by 30 percent since 1997, to a total
\nvalue of $52 billion.<\/p>\n
The U.S.-ASEAN Business Council is a non-profit organization
\nin the U.S. that aims to promote increased trade and investment
\nbetween the U.S. and member countries of ASEAN. ASEAN member
\ncountries include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
\nMyanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.<\/p>\n
The business group held a dialogue Saturday with ASEAN Finance
\nMinisters, focusing on financial sector issues and explored areas
\nof mutual cooperation to support economic growth and investment.<\/p>\n
Bower also said he expects the new U.S. administration under
\nU.S. President George W. Bush to show \"a more high level of
\nengagement in ASEAN than we've seen in past administrations.\"<\/p>\n
\"The team in place has so far indicated to the U.S. business
\nthat they are going to keep the trade agenda moving forward, with
\nthe U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Area and completing the Vietnam
\nbilateral trade agreement,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Separately, Bower said the standoff between the U.S. and
\nChina, following the midair collision of a Chinese fighter and a
\nU.S. spy plane over the South China Sea, has been \"unfortunate\"
\nfrom the business point of view, but expressed optimism that it
\nwould be \"resolved quickly\".<\/p>\n
\"It doesn't make sense for anybody - not China, not the U.S.,
\nand certainly not the countries in ASEAN, for the U.S.-China
\nrhetoric to be wound up like it is,\" he said.<\/p>\n
In the meeting, the U.S. business group urged Southeast Asian
\ncountries to continue corporate restructuring programs begun in
\nresponse to the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, and warned that
\nunrest in Indonesia is causing uncertainty within the region's
\neconomic forum.<\/p>\n
Asked about unrest in Indonesia, geographically the largest
\ncountry in the 10-nation ASEAN group, Bower said the archipelago
\nnation was, \"always going to be an anchor of ASEAN.\"<\/p>\n
\"Indonesia going through a time of such dynamic change makes
\nfor an uncertain future for ASEAN,\" he said. But \"there is a
\nfundamental belief that Indonesia will pull it back together.\"<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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