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US Business Leaders Urge Unlocked ASEAN Market Potential
US business leaders said Sunday in Hanoi that they were committed to expanding their trade and investment ties with Southeast Asia and urged strong and immediate moves for the region to compete with China and other markets.
"Our core recommendation to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was to quickly and fully implement the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA). This is the key to ASEAN's competitiveness in winning world class technology and capital," Ernest Z. Bower, President of the U.S.-ASEAN Business Council, told the ASEAN economic ministers.
During a two-hour dialogue Sunday, member companies of the Council, including AOL Time Warner, American Express, Cargill, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Verizon Communications, and Ford Company, discussed digital trade, policy environment and potentially competitive advantage of ASEAN.
ASEAN is America's third largest overseas market. U.S. exports to ASEAN reached 23.1 billion U.S. dollars in the first half of this year, up seven percent from the year-ago period. Imports from the region stood at 38.3 billion, down about four percent from the same period last year.
U.S. investment in the region at the end of 2000 stood at slightly under 52 billion, roughly five times as large as current U.S. investment in China.
Earlier this week Bower said "China's economic growth will have a positive impact on trade in Southeast Asia, particularly with their entry into the World Trade Organization expected later this year."
However, he urged ASEAN countries to sharpen their competitive edge. In the face of growing economic competition, ASEAN can attract more foreign direct investment by accelerating national treatment under the ASEAN Investment Area and implementing the ASEAN Customs Agreement, he said.
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