ASEAN urged to integrated production

ASEAN urged to integrated production

BANGKOK (AFP): The World Trade Organization's next chief Supachai Panitchpakdi has urged Southeast Asian nations to form integrated production networks demanded by multinational corporations, a report said Wednesday.

In an interview with The Nation newspaper, Supachai reiterated his support for a regional free-trade arrangement to help drive growth among ailing Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) economies.

He warned that Southeast Asia risked being passed by as multinationals moved towards systems where parts and components were allocated to different countries or factories to produce before being assembled as finished products.

"ASEAN countries have to be part of this regional manufacturing base or they will be left out of the regional economic model," he said.

Supachai said closer economic cooperation in the region would ensure sustainable growth after the shock of the 1997-98 economic crisis.

He called on Asian countries to widen their cooperation to create an Asian Economic Community, which might eventually incorporate India.

Supachai, who served as Thailand's Commerce Minister until the change of government earlier this year, will succeed Mike Moore at the helm of the WTO next year.