ASEAN to gain from expanded membership

ASEAN to gain from expanded membership

JAKARTA (JP): ASEAN will gain immeasurably from the impending
expansion of its membership but there will be formidable
problems, a seminar concluded yesterday.

"The addition of three new countries will make ASEAN more
representative of Southeast Asia. This will give it a stronger
voice in international forums where issues affecting the region
are discussed," Robert Teh, a senior officer of the ASEAN
Secretariat's Bureau of ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), said in a
statement concluding the three-day seminar.

The seminar, titled Enhancement of Trade and Investment
Cooperation in Southeast Asia: Opportunities and Challenges
towards ASEAN-10 and Beyond, was organized by the ASEAN
secretariat and the United Nations Economic Social Commission for
Asia and the Pacific.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam and is expected to admit
Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar in the middle of the year.

Delegations from the ten countries included government
officials and businessmen.

Teh said that beyond the political advantages, an expanded
ASEAN would gain considerable leverage in enhancing its global
competitiveness.

"This will gradually become evident when Cambodia, Laos and
Myanmar are closely integrated with the economies of the other
ASEAN members," he said.

Speakers said ASEAN would also face significant challenges
from expanded membership and that the most serious might be a
widening gap between the more developed and lesser developed
countries.

"But we take comfort from the findings of the seminar that the
enhancement of trade and investment cooperation in Southeast Asia
may provide the solution to the problem," Teh said.

Mari Pangestu, the executive director of the Centre for
Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), who moderated a
discussion at the seminar's final session yesterday, said there
would be no direct impact on the economies of the existing
members because of the expansion.

"But we have to see them in the way we see the Chinese
economy," she said.

She said similarities were that labor and natural resources
make them competitors to most existing ASEAN members in
attracting foreign investments.

But if the economies could compliment each other they could
generate ASEAN economic growth and facilitate economic
cooperation. she said.

She said the three countries were potential future markets for
existing member countries.

For Indonesia, with a better economy, they could become
markets industrial products. "As we are more industrialized than
them, we can, for example, export our spare parts and automotive
products, garments, consultancy and management services," she
said.

She said that because of their less developed economies the
three countries had some catching-up to do to emulate the
economies of the existing ASEAN members. (bnt)