U.S. ambassadors to ASEAN to begin promotion of region

U.S. ambassadors to ASEAN to begin promotion of region

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Washington's ambassadors to Southeast Asia's booming economies are to launch their third promotion of the region in the United States next month to expand trade and investment, a US diplomat said yesterday.

The 17-day "Ambassadors' Tour" beginning June 8 involving envoys from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) would cover six US cities, US Ambassador to Malaysia John Wolf said.

ASEAN, comprising Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand, is the world's fastest growing region, officials said.

Wolf said the envoys would woo businessmen in Los Angeles, Seattle, Denver, St Louis, New York and Washington D.C. to exploit the investment and trade potential in ASEAN.

Cases of American companies which had successfully penetrated the 330 million population ASEAN market would be cited to drive home the point, he said.

"American businesses cannot wait to read about economic opportunities (in the region) but they need to come fast to grab the chances," Wolf told reporters.

Officials said ASEAN, with a combined gross domestic product of US$400 billion, was the third largest market for United States after Japan and the European Union.

Washington had called for more efforts to lower trade and services barriers and improve the investment climate in the region during a dialogue with ASEAN early this month, officials said.

Wolf said the tour was expected to draw more listeners this time than the 2,000 participants who turned up for a similar stint last year in Salt Lake City, Utah, Cincinnati, Ohio, Baltimore and Maryland.