Investor trust in S.E. Asia 'eroding'

Investor trust in S.E. Asia 'eroding'

SINGAPORE (AP): Investor confidence in Southeast Asia has "eroded" and foreign direct investment in the region has declined from US$28 billion in 1997 to $15 billion in 1999, a Singapore Cabinet minister said Friday.

Foreign investment in Southeast Asia for the year 2000 was likely to be even lower than the previous year, Singapore Trade and Industry Minister George Yeo said during a meeting with the top economics minister from Myanmar.

Yeo said it was "critical" for Singapore, Myanmar and other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, to "build a more conducive, pro-business and investment-friendly environment."

The region needs to "develop competitive industries that are regionally integrated," Yeo said.

Yeo said the task "would not be easy" and that recent ASEAN investment missions to the United States, Europe and Japan "were not as successful as anticipated in promoting greater inflow of investment into the region."

Brigadier General David Abel of Myanmar was in Singapore for the fourth Joint Ministerial Working Committee between the two nations.

The first such meeting was held in 1996 and has led to projects in agriculture, tourism development, transportation and trade development, a Singapore government statement said earlier in the week.

Singapore is Myanmar's largest foreign investor. In 2000, Singapore had $1.5 billion invested in the country - 21 percent of the total investment in the Myanmar.

Myanmar, which is also known as Burma, joined ASEAN in 1997. Asian companies have continued to invest in Myanmar despite calls from human rights groups to boycott the country in protest of military-ruled Myanmar's human rights record.