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Asean ministers start economic unity talks
Southeast Asian economic ministers began talks here yesterday to discuss ways to speed up economic integration and free trade in an effort to move closer to establishing a regional economic community.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) wants to achieve integration of 11 industry sectors before 2010, when a Free Trade Agreement with China is expected to have been agreed. The 11 sectors are wood, rubber, autos, textiles, electronics, agriculture, e-commerce, fisheries, health care, air travel and tourism.
Officials said economic integration is crucial for to better compete with fast-growing economies like China and India. "We have to be committed to achieving Asean economic integration through Afta because we are competing with other countries. A common market of 500 million people must become a reality," said Indonesian Trade Minister Rini Suwandi after talks on the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta).
Experts say even though Asia has rebounded strongly from the 1997-98 regional financial crisis, economic integration remains a major problem due to uneven economic and political development. The ministers met yesterday to discuss ways to make Asean an attractive investment location through an initiative called the Asean Investment Area, an Indonesian trade ministry official said. Suwandi said Asean countries must make efforts to better protect intellectual property rights to attract more foreign investment, pointing out that Japan had relocated much of its investment out of the region due to concerns about property rights protection.
"They (Japanese investors) told us they don't feel secure about producing high-tech products in Asean because of risks as far as intellectual property rights are concerned." "China has also this problem so if we can address this maybe we can do better than China," she said. The Asean ministers are also scheduled to meet counterparts from dialogue partners China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand and the European Union on Saturday and Sunday.
At their summit in Bali last October, Asean leaders endorsed a plan to achieve a single production base and market by 2020, with a free flow of goods, services and investments in the region. The Southeast Asian leaders also launched the first phase of a free trade agreement to be fully developed with China by 2010 to create the world's biggest trade zone.
Similar plans are in the works with South Korea and India. In the 1980s and 1990s Asean members such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand enjoyed rapid economic growth as a result of investment by transnational corporations and the establishment of export industries. However, since then, global investment flows had shifted dramatically to China, taking advantage of its far lower labour costs.
Jakarta
