GE to invest more in Southeast Asia

GE to invest more in Southeast Asia

SINGAPORE (AFP): General Electric Co. (GE) of the United States is finalizing new investments in Southeast Asia to tap into the region's rapid growth, company officials said yesterday.

GE runs several major manufacturing and service centers in Southeast Asian countries, including three in Indonesia, five in Singapore, two in Malaysia and three in the Philippines.

"In addition, GE is finalizing investments in several more joint ventures around the region for aircraft engine servicing and turbine repair," said Kenneth Brown, president of GE in Southeast Asia.

Brown was speaking at a ceremony where GE's operational headquarters status in Singapore was renewed by the government's Economic Development Board, making it eligible for special corporate incentives.

Southeast Asia represents a US$3.4 billion market for GE in which it employs nearly 9,000 people.

This city-state serves as GE's center for the management and development of operations in the region, which Brown described as a "very exciting place to be in for now and well into the new millennium."

"And GE will continue to be committed to the region's growth and development," he said.

Moves to create a free trade area in the region by 2003 would offer the company "a new window of opportunity," he said, adding that GE was working closely with governments in Southeast Asia to exploit its economic potential.

Brown said GE would expand its Singapore operations, making it the center for high technology, manufacturing and service businesses in the Asia-Pacific region.

GE is a diversified technology, manufacturing and services company with revenues last year of $79 billion and net earnings of $7.3 billion. GE operates in more than 100 countries, with 250 manufacturing plants in 25 nations.