U.S. investors undeterred by terror, other concerns in Southeast Asia
U.S. investors undeterred by terror, other concerns in Southeast Asia
P. Parameswaran, Agence France-Presse/Washington
A bloody insurgency in Thailand, bomb attack warnings in
Indonesia, a potential revolt in the Philippines and egregious
human rights abuses in Myanmar may be enough reasons to put off
foreign investors heading to Southeast Asia. But not American
investors.
Any perception that such an ominous backdrop, fueled by
persistent anger among Muslims in the region over U.S. policy on
the Middle East, would keep American businesses at bay was
debunked by a just-concluded ASEAN investment promotion mission
to the United States, officials and business leaders said.
Led by U.S. ambassadors, who are based in member states of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the mission
received a higher than expected response from potential
investors.
More than 200 meetings were held between small and medium
American enterprises and mission members during visits to the
U.S. cities of Houston, Atlanta and Louisville and the capital
Washington, officials said.
"That tells me that interesting things were in the region
although it is a market which is a bit far away for most
Americans and who do not have a high degree of familiarity with
it," U.S. Ambassador to Singapore Franklin Lavin said.
He said he could not quantify the U.S. investments in the
ASEAN pipeline as the companies had to discuss further the
business plans with management or consider them with other global
expansion plans.
During the meetings, some enterprises raised concerns over
terrorist bombings and violence in Southeast Asia, where the Al-
Qaeda terror network had established a regional wing blamed for
some key bloody attacks.
"Our message to them was that all areas of the world involve
some element of risk, and the wise approach is: How do you
understand it, mitigate it and work around it," Lavin said.
Southeast Asia was "not a perfect world but there are
literally thousands and thousands of U.S. companies are doing
quite well with very successful sales and trading records," Lavin
added.
U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Ralph Boyce reminded that every
country in the region was essentially different from every other
one and that therefore, "educated business travel is essential."
The U.S. is the biggest foreign investor in Southeast Asia,
with direct investments of nearly US$90 billion so far,
surpassing investments in China, Mexico, Brazil and Japan.
Southeast Asia is also America's third largest annual overseas
export market worth about $50 billion, more than twice the value
of its exports to China.
Ernest Bower, the president of the U.S.-ASEAN Business
Council, said among key factors attracting American investors to
the $500 million-ASEAN market was its link with giants China and
India under ambitious free trade plans.
"So if you manage your investments well in ASEAN and the
region goes like it could, those investments could access
combined markets of over two billion people in the future when
the plans bear fruit," he said.
The U.S.-ASEAN Business Council organized the "U.S.
Ambassadors Tour," a unique annual investment pulling attraction
which over the years has covered 30 U.S. cities and met more than
20,000 American investors.