ASEAN meeting to focus on investment, trade, security
ASEAN meeting to focus on investment, trade, security
Martin Abbugao, Agence France-Presse, Singapore
Investment and trade reforms, including the formation of the world's biggest free trade zone, are expected to get equal billing with security issues at an ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting in Brunei next week.
Expanding ties with Australia and New Zealand, a commitment to enforce good corporate and financial ethics and a blueprint to narrow the development gap between the rich and poor members are also on the agenda, according to documents obtained by AFP.
Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will meet in Brunei on July 29 and 30 for their annual meeting, as well as dialogue with their counterparts from China, Japan and South Korea under the ASEAN plus three umbrella.
On July 31, the meeting takes in foreign ministers of their Western allies, including U.S. State Secretary Colin Powell, for the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), Asia's top dialogue mechanism on security issues.
While terrorism, a territorial dispute in the South China Sea, and tensions between India and Pakistan and on Korean Peninsula are expected to hog the spotlight, senior officials say economic issues will be tackled with equal urgency.
"Our priority is to further enhance our integration especially in ensuring the strength and competitiveness of our economies," a draft of the joint communique to be issued by the ASEAN ministers said.
This includes "going beyond" an ASEAN Free Trade Area which slashed tariffs on most goods to between zero and five percent, to include further measures to open up trade, services and investment.
Other priorities include tackling the remaining challenges from the Asian financial crisis which battered the region in 1997-1998, according to the statement drafted by senior officials for approval by the ministers.
Reforms in the banking and corporate sectors have helped East Asia emerge stronger from the crisis and able to ride out the U.S.-led global economic slowdown which hit last year.
"While noting the progress achieved in these areas, we pledge our continued commitment to work together and individually in financial and corporate sector restructuring," the draft said.
ASEAN, made up of 10 countries from rural Laos to skyscraper- lined Singapore, should grow at an average 3.4-4.0 percent this year, it said, but adding, "much needs to be done in ensuring sustainable economic recovery in the region."
Tunku Abdul Aziz, vice chairman of the anti-corruption group Transparency International, said the main challenge for Asia is to make sure that rules meet world standards as the region competes in a more open global economy.
"Whether they like globalization or not, it is here to stay and if they want to be a key player they've got to play by the new rules of the game," Abdul Aziz, a former Malaysian central banker, told AFP.
"And the rules of the game are not theirs to manipulate as they used to. The new rules of the game are going to be universal rules," he said.
The extent of reforms in Asia vary following the 1997 meltdown, with some countries like South Korea having done a lot more than others to rectify deficiencies thrown up by the crisis, Abdul Aziz said.
In Brunei, talks will continue on a proposed ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement to be formed within the next 10 years, and covering two billion people, a third of the world's population.
A framework for the agreement will be signed when ASEAN leaders meet in Cambodia in November.
While ASEAN is feeling the pinch of competition from China in terms of trade and luring away foreign direct investment, Singapore's elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew sees China as eventually becoming a market for ASEAN.
"As it grows, China will be a huge potential market for unfinished goods produced in Southeast Asia. China's burgeoning middle class will translate into more tourists for ASEAN," Lee said.
Among other issues expected on the Brunei agenda is a ministerial declaration to be signed in September aimed at boosting trade with Australia and New Zealand, as well as proposals for a "closer economic partnership" with Japan.