U.S. strikes prompt ASEAN to lure investment

U.S. strikes prompt ASEAN to lure investment

HANOI, Vietnam (AP): Economic uncertainty following the
terrorist attacks in America prompted Southeast Asian nations to
boost their efforts to lure outside capital by acting more
quickly to eliminate restrictions on foreign investment, Cabinet
officials said Friday.

"There's a sense of greater urgency as a result of what
happened there," said Singaporean Trade Minister George Yong-Boon
Yeo. "The prospects for an early recovery have receded."

The 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
had intended to change their deadline for treating outside
investors the same as local investors from 2020 to 2015, but the
crisis in the United States prompted the six wealthiest ASEAN
members to move the deadline to 2010.

The less-developed members, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and
Laos, will wait until 2015.

The ASEAN states fear their already shaky investment prospects
could worsen after China joins the World Trade Organization -
probably within the next few months - opening the world's most
populous nation even further to foreign investors who have been
clamoring for more access.

ASEAN hopes to create a unified investment zone by breaking
down bureaucracies and red tape that stifle trade, and ministers
said each member would be looking at its own rules and laws to
liberalize them.

"If it's restraining the private sector, we have to eliminate
it," Malaysian Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz told a news
conference. "We need to do it in a hurry, because the world won't
wait for ASEAN."

Aziz noted that some of the nations have already exceeded
ASEAN's goals and others need to catch up.

ASEAN's fears about China's accession to the Geneva-based WTO,
which sets global trade rules, have been aggravated recently by
economic slowdowns in all the world's major economies, which will
dampen demand for the exports that are the backbone of many Asian
economies.

The hijacking of four U.S. passengers jets, two of which were
flown directly into New York's World Trade Center in a suicide
attack that leveled the twin towers, has jolted the world and
stirred fears it could throw economies into further trouble. Yeo
said that helped convince the ASEAN members to hasten their
plans.

"It is not clear what the effect will be, but it could be for
the worse," Yeo said.

The six ASEAN members who will treat all investors the same as
of 2010 are Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Thailand and Singapore.