EU ambassador foresees more investment in Southeast Asia
EU ambassador foresees more investment in Southeast Asia
Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Bangkok
A possible free trade agreement (FTA) between the European Union
and Southeast Asia along with the governments' recent moves to
liberalize their economies could lead to a boost in sadly lagging
EU investments in the region, an EU official said on Friday.
"I think we will see an increase in investment in Southeast
Asia because we have started exploratory talks on an eventual
free trade agreement between ASEAN and the EU, and secondly, we
see an improvement in a more open attitude towards foreign
investment," said Friedrich Hamburger, head of the European
Commission office in Bangkok.
The possibility of setting up a free trade agreement between
the EU and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was
first raised by EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson on a trip
to the region earlier this year.
Hamburger noted that EU investments in ASEAN amounted to only
2.8 percent of Europe's total foreign direct investment (FDI)
worldwide in 2002, and less in 2003 and 2004 when many European
companies shifted their attention to the rapidly growing markets
of China and India.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The EU will host its fourth Asia Invest Forum 2005 in Bangkok,
on Nov. 14 and Nov. 15, in an effort to stimulate flagging
European investment interest in the region. The forum is expected
to attract 200 participants from 90 organizations representing
private and public sectors.
"A surprisingly small share of EU FDI -- less than 6 percent
-- comes to Asia, including China," said Hamburger. "This is only
about half of the EU's annual investment in Latin America,
despite Asia clearly being the most dynamic growth area in the
world."
The EU ambassador to Bangkok attributed the sharp decline in
European investment in Southeast Asia to the 1997 financial
crisis and the protectionist measures many Southeast Asian
governments put in place as result of the crash.
"Now we are seeing a slow reopening of the markets," said
Hamburger.
He noted, for example, that Thailand was mulling legislation
that would allow up to 49 percent foreign holding in local
telecommunication companies, the same percentage that was allowed
in Thailand prior to the 1997 crisis.
To protect the local telecommunication industry in the 1997
post-crisis period, the Thai government restricted foreign
holdings in telecommunication companies to only 20 percent.