Trade relations hampered by a lack of information
Trade relations hampered by a lack of information
JAKARTA (JP): ASEAN Secretary-General Ajit Singh, in a joint
commission meeting with India yesterday, cited a lack of
information as the main impediment to better bilateral trade
relations.
Speaking at the opening day of the second Joint Sectoral
Cooperation Committee meeting between the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and India in New Delhi, Singh
said that this communication gap has prevented relations from
reaching their true potential.
"In a nutshell, the problem really boils down to a lack of
information and a lack of communication," Singh said yesterday in
his speech obtained by The Jakarta Post.
ASEAN comprises Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore and Thailand.
The second commission meeting will take place in New Delhi
before moving to Goa, where the talks will close on Feb. 17.
"The challenge before us is how to exploit the full
potentialities which exist," said Singh, who is leading a
delegation of some 40 senior ASEAN officials to help boost
cooperation in trade, investment, tourism, science and
technology.
One of the main topics to be discussed by the delegates during
the meetings will be a report produced by an experts group that
was established at the first commission meeting in Bali in
January 1994.
Two-way trade between ASEAN and India increased from US$2.2
billion in 1990 to $2.5 billion in 1993, much of which favored
India's balance of accounts.
"What the report clearly points to is the fact that trade
between ASEAN and India is indeed small compared to the
potentialities which exist," Singh remarked.
The experts group report concludes that "even where ASEAN
countries are major importers and India is an exporter, most
ASEAN countries import little or none of their requirements from
India, and vice-versa."
Singh noted the need to tackle the issues and suggested
concrete steps to remedy them. He later suggested that the ASEAN
delegates not overlook the potential of the Indian market, which
includes a high-income consumer group of over 160 million
people.
Labor
Meanwhile, Singh said that ASEAN and India should work with
other developing nations to prevent such issues as labor
standards and environmental concerns from being used as new
protectionist barriers in world trade.
"We have to be vigilant that in striving to improve the lot of
our workers, issues such as the so-called social clause are not
attached as conditionalities in any new trade relationship," Ajit
Singh was quoted by AFP as saying.
ASEAN and India should work closely with other developing
countries to ensure the newly-formed World Trade Organization
(WTO) serves the interests of all its members, the Malaysian
official said.
Developing nations have expressed worry at attempts by
advanced countries to introduce a "social clause" that would link
such issues as labor standards and environmental concerns to
world trade.
Such a clause could provide for the restriction or prohibition
of imports from countries or industries that do not adhere to
stipulated standards, hurting the exports of developing nations.
Singh noted a Thai proposal to set up a growth triangle
comprising India, Sri Lanka and Thailand that could encourage
trade and investment links between ASEAN and India.
India became a sectoral partner of the regional bloc two years
ago after putting ASEAN at the center stage of its post-Cold War
diplomatic and economic offensive. (mds)