ASEAN meets to spur growth in backward areas
ASEAN meets to spur growth in backward areas
DAVAO, Philippines (Reuter): Hard on the heels of the APEC
meeting, Asia's commitment to trade cooperation took another step
forward yesterday when officials and businessmen from four
nations met to spur development of their backward areas.
More than 1,000 delegates are attending the first business
convention of the East ASEAN Growth Area (EAGA) in Davao on the
southern Philippine island of Mindanao.
The EAGA unites Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the
Philippines in an effort to spread the benefits of development to
neglected areas.
"This set-up is a powerful stimulus to growth in the
region," Herman Montenegro, president of the Philippine Chamber
of Commerce and Industry, said in a speech opening the
conference.
"The East ASEAN triangle will open windows of opportunity
for the rapid development of the area."
The EAGA was created to knock down barriers to trade and
business links between Brunei, Mindanao, the Malaysian areas of
Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan, and Indonesia's Maluku, Sulawesi and
Kalimantan.
All four countries in the EAGA are members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), whose other
members are Thailand and Singapore.
Officials and delegates said geography had largely hindered
development in these areas, which are close to each other but
distant from their respective national capitals.
They said businessmen and trade officials were forced to
seek permission from distant central governments before being
able to do deals with a neighboring island.
"Most of these areas were considered as backwaters,"
Filipino industrialist Raymundo Segura, chairman of the
convention's organizing committee, said in a speech.
Miracle
"Today, united as a trade bloc, these areas are seen as the
next economic miracle of the region," he said.
Business delegations from the United States, Japan, Taiwan
and Australia are also taking part in the conference.
Arriving in Davao to attend the meeting, Philippine
President Fidel Ramos said developments in the trade arena
vindicated his government's reformist policies.
"I am convinced more than ever that our economic reforms,
the shift of our economy's direction from protection to
competitiveness, from restriction to liberalization, from
regulation to privatization are along the right track," Ramos
said.
"And for the sake of our people's well-being and welfare, we
will ride this wave of cooperation now sweeping the economies of
the Asia-Pacific region and of the world."
Ramos was returning from Indonesia, where he attended the
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit which pledged to
create a free-trade area in the region by 2020.