ASEAN launches recovery effort

ASEAN launches recovery effort

By Kornelius Purba & Meidyatama Suryodiningrat

HANOI (JP): ASEAN leaders set out on Wednesday to cushion the
social impact of the regions crisis by establishing safety-net
and poverty-eradication programs along with "bold" economic
measures to hasten economic recovery.

The social costs of the Asian crisis were among the main
points stressed in the 34-point Hanoi Declaration signed by the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders at the end
of their two-day summit.

"We recognize that the financial crisis has a social
dimension, with the poor and vulnerable segments of our society
being the most adversely affected," the declaration said.

"We will ensure that efforts to safeguard the interests of the
poor form an integral part of our reform effort".

The two social programs were also stipulated in the adopted
Hanoi Plan of Action (HPA), an extensive 24-point document which
sets out broad medium-term initiatives aimed at achieving the
development goals of ASEAN's Vision 2020.

The leaders attending the organization's sixth summit in Hanoi
were Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Indonesia's President B.J.
Habibie, Laotian Prime Minister Sisavath Keobounphanh, Malaysia
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Myanmar's Senior General Than
Shwe, Philippine President Joseph Estrada, Singaporean Prime
Minister Goh Chok Tong, Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai and the
host, Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who is still waiting for his
country to become a formal ASEAN member, attended as an observer.

The safety-net action plan in the HPA will be managed by a
special task force that will work out a regional scheme of social
protection and function as a forum for mobilizing resources from
ASEAN dialog partners, the private sector and international
financial institutions.

The HPA also underlines the need to exchange information in
the field of human rights in order to promote and protect human
rights and fundamental freedoms.

"We have reaffirmed the need for cultural development to be in
harmony with social development, rural development in harmony
with urban development, with greater focus on poverty
alleviation, job creation and comprehensive development of the
human factor," Khai, who chaired the summit meetings, said in his
closing statement.

AFTA

To help spur economic recovery, the leaders adopted their
ministers' proposal to speed up the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA)
deadline from 2003 to 2002 through a yearly staging process.

The six "older" members of ASEAN -- Brunei, Indonesia,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand -- would by
2000 reduce tariffs to between zero and 5 percent on 85 percent
of products subject to AFTA requirements.

By 2001, 90 percent of products would be included and all by
2002.

Furthermore, those six countries would by 2000 levy tariffs of
zero to 5 percent on 90 percent of total tariff lines which make
up 90 percent of trade among them.

This would result in the bulk of intra ASEAN trade carrying
tariffs of no more than 5 percent.

ASEAN leaders also embarked on an ambitious attempt to attract
foreign investors to the region in the next two years by
providing special incentives such as income tax exemptions and
100 percent foreign equity ownership.

These economic goals were issued in a separate document by the
leaders titled "Statement on Bold Measures".

Khai boasted that with the results of the summit, "we send to
the international community a strong and clear message that ASEAN
would continue its outward looking policy".

Without specifically mentioning China, Taiwan and the four
ASEAN states involved, the leaders also underlined the need to
settle the overlapping claims in the South China Sea through
peaceful means and adhere to international laws.

"We have sufficient grounds to say the Hanoi Summit is a
bridge joining two centuries," Khai said.

Bolkiah, who is to chair the next Summit in 2001, said
"despite the difficulties in the region the ASEAN spirit well and
alive".

"We share a common understanding on the gravity of the
crisis... We know that there are no soft options. The only way to
pull ourselves out of the crisis is to press on with economic
reforms and regional economic cooperation," he said.

Habibie kept a relatively low profile during his three-day
stay here, holding just two bilateral meetings -- with Bolkiah
and Hun Sen.

He and his large entourage left just one hour after the final
meeting ended.