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.