U.S. businessmen bullish on SE Asia

U.S. businessmen bullish on SE Asia

SINGAPORE (AFP): Top U.S. business executives said Wednesday
they remained bullish on Southeast Asia's economic future, and
encouraged the region to forge ahead with the establishment of a
free trade area.

"Despite the recent economic downturn, trade in Asia and
especially the ASEAN region, has grown over the past decade,"
said Jim Kelly, chairman and chief executive of package delivery
giant United Parcel Service (UPS).

"Asia now represents a third of the world's total
international trade," said Kelly, who chairs the U.S.-ASEAN
business council.

He was speaking in Singapore at the opening Wednesday of a
S$38 million (US$21.2 million) Asia-Pacific office of UPS.

With the region's potential for growth in mind, "UPS takes a
long-term approach to its investments and business strategies and
the company will continue to help businesses in Singapore and
around the region be successful in the global marketplace," he
said.

His statements echoed earlier remarks in Malaysia by business
council president Ernest Bower following a meeting of the
council's board of directors earlier this week.

"We chose Malaysia for our annual meeting in the region to
underscore the importance of Malaysia to the U.S. private sector.
We are committed to take action to strengthen this relationship
and expand our trade and investment ties in Malaysia and in the
ASEAN region," Bower said.

ASEAN is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which
groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The regional bloc's image as an investment site has been
tarnished by political problems in its biggest country Indonesia
and key member Thailand as well as kidnappings in the
Philippines.

Poverty in new members Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam and
allegations of human rights abuses in military-ruled Myanmar have
also affect foreign investor perception of the region.

Bower urged Malaysia to take a leadership role in promoting a
planned ASEAN Free Trade Area that will move into effect by 2003
for ASEAN's six more developed members, and at a later date for
the rest.

U.S. corporate executives have said that selling ASEAN as a
unified market of 500 million people, rather than as 10
independent countries, would lure more foreign investors, amid
growing competition from giant neighbor China.

The U.S.-ASEAN business council is a non-profit organization
that promotes increased trade and investment between the United
States and ASEAN members. Its members include the executives of
several top U.S. companies.