U.S. must act quickly to help SE Asia: Envoy
U.S. must act quickly to help SE Asia: Envoy
SINGAPORE (AFP): The United States must act quickly to help Southeast Asia out of economic turmoil because the region's potential for growth was still strong, U.S. ambassador Steven Green said yesterday.
"The current statistics clearly point to the potential," he said at the 25th annual general meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore.
To take full advantage of that potential in the region, Green urged them to "carry this very positive message about the region back to U.S. CEOs and civil leaders and to the American people."
He cited as an example the combined gross domestic product (GDP) of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) of US$838 billion or 2. 7 percent of the total world GDP.
He also said total trade between the region and U.S. had already reached $115 billion "and it doesn't take much imagination to see how important the region is to us."
"Because of that importance we must act quickly to help Southeast Asia," Green said, calling for reforms to hasten the region's recovery.
Under the reforms, he said financial sectors should be revamped, transparency be promoted, copyrights be protected, barriers removed for free trades and cronyism be eliminated.
Most Southeast Asian nations are reeling from a currency crisis since mid-1997 which wreaked havoc on the region's financial systems and real estate and stock markets, causing massive unemployment and retarding economic growth.
"I've been asked by some people, 'why even bother entering Asian markets?' and 'where are the opportunities for U.S. companies?'," he said, again citing statistics to show the region's potential for growth.
He said since Jan. 1, 1997, the total capitalized value of Singapore stocks dropped to $109 billion from $184 billion, Malaysia's to $111 billion from $302 billion and Indonesia's plummeted to $18 billion from $93 billion.
Despite these declines, the combined value was $238 billion.
"But if you compare that to the U.S. stocks which are valued at nearly $10 trillion you can see that there's still a long way to go into the region," Green said.
He added that capital formation would accelerate, takeovers would occur and companies would be better positioned to compete in the future in the region.
"It is my firm belief that the Asian financial crisis will one day be regarded by economic historians as possibly one of the greatest corporate opportunities of our century," he said.