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.