U.S. slowdown highlights case for SE Asian reform

U.S. slowdown highlights case for SE Asian reform

HANOI (AFP): Southeast Asia must push ahead with efforts to
integrate its poorer members, implement reforms and tear down
tariff barriers to better deal with the U.S.-led global economic
slowdown, a top ASEAN official said on Friday.

Rodolfo Severino, secretary general of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), said this was not the time to
slacken efforts to help ASEAN's less developed members catch up
with their richer neighbors.

Asked if the global slowdown would set back ASEAN's efforts,
Severino told reporters: "No. In fact that is a spur to further
integration because you can't deal with a lot of these problems
individually any more."

ASEAN has to "push regional integration in order to become
more attractive to investments", otherwise the region will lose
out to China, India, Latin America and even Eastern Europe, he
said on the sidelines of annual ASEAN talks in Vietnam.

Senior ASEAN officials are preparing for a meeting here next
week of their foreign ministers, who will also get together with
their top trading and security partners such as the United
States, China, Japan and Russia.

Discussions on Friday dealt with ways to hasten the
integration of newer ASEAN members Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and
Vietnam with the group's founders Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia,
the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

ASEAN represents a market of 500 million people but
encompasses some of the world's poorest countries with one of the
richest, Singapore.

"We are focussing on the integration of the newer members,"
Severino said, adding there were discussions on how to coordinate
various programs to spur economic development in the Mekong River
countries including Vietnam and Laos.

The ASEAN chief said integration would take time because the
economic gap "is pretty wide". The focus was on developing human
resources and building institutions that would strengthen the
rule of law.

"If you are perceived to have a system of law in place, then
you have a better chance of attracting investments," he said,
adding that "worries about the political situation in some ASEAN
countries" had deterred investors.

Although the annual foreign ministers' meeting is intended
largely as a forum for security issues, with Indonesia's chronic
instability likely to loom large, officials said there was no
escaping the recent economic downturn.

"These are bad times and we're trying to deal with it by
pushing economic integration and harnessing ICT (information and
communications technology) and continuing with national and
structural reforms," Severino said.

The ASEAN Free Trade Area, which aims to bring down tariffs to
between zero and five percent by 2003 for ASEAN's more developed
members, was on track, he added.

Singapore, ASEAN's strongest economy, has plunged into
recession due to falling exports and weak industrial output, and
other export-reliant ASEAN countries have slashed growth
forecasts this year as well.

Severino said China would pose tougher competition for ASEAN
nations after it becomes a member of the World Trade
Organization, but there were also opportunities.

"This is not a zero-sum game," he said. "If the barriers are
lowered for ASEAN exports to China then that's good for us."