U.S. vows greater attention to ASEAN

U.S. vows greater attention to ASEAN

MANILA (AFP): Washington will give special attention to expanding economic ties with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the coming months, a U.S. commerce official said here yesterday.

U.S. Commerce Undersecretary Jeffrey Garten told a press conference in the Philippine capital that "we are going to make this ... the year of ASEAN" in Washington, both as a region and for individual countries.

Garten, who is due to visit Singapore and Malaysia after leaving here, said this was part of the "Big Emerging Market (BEM) strategy" which aims to expand U.S. economic ties with 10 selected countries which are expected to enjoy increased growth over the next few years.

ASEAN includes Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The other BEMs identified by U.S. President Bill Clinton's administration, are Poland and Turkey in Europe, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina in Latin America, South Africa in Africa, South Korea, India and the "Chinese economic area" comprising China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, in Asia.

Garten noted that ASEAN was already the fourth largest trading partner of the United States and that U.S. exports to ASEAN are expected to eventually exceed any other emerging market in the region, including China and India.

"Over the next year, we want to highlight the ASEAN region and its importance to the United States," Garten said adding that "we're going to give ASEAN a tremendous amount of importance in Washington."

Among the priorities under the BEM strategy is to "expand American corporate presence in ASEAN," Garten said adding that it was expected to become "a magnet for investment" as well as a leading force in trade liberalization.

Philippine Trade Secretary Rizalino Navarro said that he and Garten discussed increased transfer of technology as well as intellectual property rights.

Navarro said they also discussed duplicating in this country certain U.S. initiatives in Indonesia, such as expanding ties between U.S. and Philippine small and medium-scale enterprises, including boosting the number of trade missions.