ASEAN draws up investment plan
ASEAN draws up investment plan
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.