Japan, Germany may set up training centers in ASEAN
Japan, Germany may set up training centers in ASEAN
SINGAPORE (AFP): Japan and Germany are considering setting up training centers to hone the skills of managers from small- and medium-scale industries in the booming Southeast Asian economies, officials said yesterday.
The move to set up the two centers in ASEAN by leading Japanese and German business chambers was announced at a meeting to boost networking among Asian businessmen organized by the German Federation of Small Business and Crafts (ZDH).
Officials said Japan's Kansai Economic Federation and the ZDH were keen to set up the centers to impart the skills acquired by their industries to those in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), comprising Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
"The centers, when implemented, will greatly help small and medium industries in the region tackle the increasing challenges of trade and investment liberalization," said Robert Chua Teck Chew, president of the Singapore Federation of Chambers of Commerce and industry.
Chua said Japan was planning to set up an ASEAN Management Training Institute while Germany was looking at establishing a regional center specifically to train managers to carry out skills development programs.
"If there is one factor that puts small and medium industries in developed nations such as Japan and Germany ahead of their counterparts in other developing economies, it is the high level of skills development in these developed countries," he said.
Small- and medium-scale industries, mushrooming in the region to feed components and other basic materials to the larger industries, have become a crucial link to the rapid economic growth of the ASEAN countries, officials attending the meeting said.
It was being proposed that the two centers be based in Singapore, where local institutions could provide back-up support, Chua said at the meeting to follow up on a ZDH project promoting business linkages and technical cooperation among business groupings in the region.
The two-day meeting from yesterday would also study examples of cross-border linkages between business chambers and associations to promote the growth of small and medium industries in the Southeast Asian and South Asian regions.
"The fundamental advantage of linking up with other organizations is that initiatives for promoting small and medium industries are coordinated, complement one another and gain momentum," said Hanns-Eberhard Schleyer, ZDH's secretary general.
ZDH is the apex body of 56 German small business chambers and 52 sectoral associations.