ASEAN members warn of backlash on mega-mergers

ASEAN members warn of backlash on mega-mergers

BANGKOK (Agencies): Southeast Asian countries said on Saturday they were concerned about developing nations being hit by a backlash from a current global trend for mega-mergers and acquisitions.

Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) said at a meeting with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that because of this, alternative strategies for global economic development had to be found, a spokesman told reporters.

The meeting was held on the sidelines of a four-yearly summit of the UN's trade and development agency UNCTAD which began on Saturday, Reuters reported.

ASEAN groups Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Brunei, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, the Philippines, and Indonesia, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said at the meeting that "these mergers could result in a domestic backlash against globalization," the spokesman, Kobsak Chutikul of Thailand, said.

Mahathir was concerned that such mergers and acquisitions could create giant multinationals that could gain superior advantages over smaller domestic companies in various fields.

Singapore's Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong told Annan that big mergers could provide a backlash by taking multinationals' focus away from social safety nets.

Since the beginning of 2000, there have been two notable world mega-mergers -- the $151.80 billion AOL and Time Warner deal in the United States and the German company Mannesmann's $176.50 billion merger with Vodafone Airtouch of Britain.

At the meeting, Foreign Minister Win Aung of military-ruled Myanmar asked for help from the UN and other international organizations in creating conditions for greater democratization in the country, according to the spokesman.

Thailand's premier Chuan Leekpai suggested to Annan that ASEAN be given observer status at the United Nations, the spokesman added.

Annan told the 10-member grouping's leaders that there needed to be a structured way for ASEAN and the United Nations to collaborate in the future. He later invited ASEAN to attend the next UN meeting in June as an observer.

Mekong river

ASEAN leaders also asked for more UN help in developing the impoverished Mekong River Basin, Associated Press reported

The river basin is shared by the four poorest countries in the region, along with Thailand and China, and ASEAN hopes that development of the area will help better equalize wealth among its members.

The Thai prime minister also proposed to Annan that the United Nations consider designating a special decade for the development of the Mekong area, officials who attended the meeting said.

Governments alone will be unable to provide the large amounts of money needed to build roads, dams, power plants and other infrastructure in the area, development officials say.

Among the projects planned for the region is a US$350 million, 400-kilometer (250-mile) East-West Transport Corridor project which will join Mukdahan in Thailand and Savannakhet in Laos to Lao Bao, Dong Ha and the port of Da Nang in Vietnam.

ASEAN ministers also met Saturday with the heads of UN agencies to explore how UN activities can be expanded in Southeast Asia, Philippine Foreign Secretary Domingo Siazon said.