ASEAN draws up investment plan

Sat, 05 Jul 1997, 00:00 WIB | Source: AFP

MANILA (AFP): The Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) has agreed to complete a framework by 1998 for the
creation of an ASEAN Investment Area to lure region-wide
investors, it was announced here yesterday.

The agreement was reached at a meeting of the heads of
investment agencies of the ASEAN nations, held in the Philippines
this week, said Melito Salazar, director of the Philippine Board
of Investments.

Salazar said the joint ASEAN Investment Area would be crucial
in attracting foreign direct investment to the region as well as
in encouraging intra-ASEAN investment.

The framework for the investment area would be completed by
September 1998 and would deal with harmonizing the investment
incentives of ASEAN countries and with competition between
countries for investment, he added.

Also to be taken up are issues of national treatment of
foreign investments, increased investment promotion between ASEAN
countries and development of sub-regional economic groupings
within ASEAN.

Lim Pin, deputy chairman of Singapore's Economic Development
Board, said the investment area would largely be in operation by
2010 although some aspects would not be fully implemented until
2020.

However Salazar said that no member would be compelled to
harmonize its investment incentives, but rather, member nations
would be able to consult each other to see what would be the best
incentives to adopt.

Also at the conference, Staporn Kavitanon, secretary-general
of Thailand's Board of Investments, announced that his country
was working on an ASEAN industry database which could be accessed
on the Internet.

The database would allow those seeking potential partners or
suppliers in ASEAN to get information on companies in the region
depending on their sectors, their product lines, their markets
and their ownership.

ASEAN includes Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The countries of Myanmar,
Cambodia and Laos are scheduled to join ASEAN this month.

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