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.