SE Asian PMs call for closer ties

SE Asian PMs call for closer ties

TOKYO (AFP): Leaders of three Southeast Asian nations Friday called for closer regional ties and greater global interaction as the key to boosting future domestic growth and development.

The prime ministers of Vietnam and Cambodia agreed closer local and global relationships were imperative to facilitating economic prosperity at home and throughout the region.

Their Malaysian counterpart also advocated increased international transactions but warned of adverse repercussions from free-trade agreements with states outside the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai said: "Vietnam has recorded great achievements, but the economy remains at a low level of development and is still in a transitional period with many weaknesses and pressing social issues."

"We are continuing to expand multi-sided relations, bilateral and multilateral, with all countries and territories," he said, addressing a symposium in Tokyo organized by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper.

Cambodian premier Hun Sen looked to China for inspiration to beat a worldwide slowdown and put the region back on a path to prosperity following a financial crisis in 1997.

"The global outlook for 2001 is becoming significantly more adverse, with the economic slowdown of the United States, slower growth in Europe and problems in the Japanese economy," he said

But China's imminent entry to the World Trade Organization should provide "win-win opportunities for the development and progress of the whole East Asian region."

He welcomed the idea of a strong China post-accession to the world trade body, saying Southeast Asian nations should learn and benefit from the communist country's experience.

"We should play with China to become rich, that is my idea," he said.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad however had different notions on promoting regional prosperity.

Mahathir proposed an international currency to counter the currency manipulation and worldwide dominance of supra-national companies, which he said lay at the root of global suffering.

"The weak must be protected according to a set of internationally agreed rules. An international currency should be created which belongs to no one country. Rates of exchange should be based on this one currency," he said.

"Currencies must never be traded as commodities," said the premier, adding that a global unit would offer an equal trading platform for rich and poor nations alike.

Vietnam's Khai and Hun Sen sang the praises of ASEAN, with the Cambodian premier highlighting the benefits of membership for development.

"ASEAN remains the economic center, which is capable to generate high growth over the long term," Hun Sen said, calling for a strengthening of relations between ASEAN countries and Japan, China and South Korea.

But Malaysia's leader wanted to protect the relationship enjoyed by the 10 ASEAN states, warning against free trade agreements with countries outside the group.

A proposed free trade agreement between Japan and Singapore could spell disaster for the region, Mahathir said.

"People want to use Singapore as a backdoor into ASEAN countries ... If they (the Japanese) do that there will be a problem as our products will suffer," he said, voicing concern that Southeast Asian countries would not be able to compete with an influx of cheap Japanese goods.