OPENING ADDRESS BY H.E. MR. ONG KENG YONG
SECRETARY GENERAL OF ASEAN

THE INAUGURAL MEETING OF THE
ASEAN BUSINESS ADVISORY COUNCIL (ABAC)
10 APRIL 2003, ASEAN SECRETARIAT, JAKARTA

Distinguished Members of the ASEAN Business Advisory Council, Friends, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning. 

On behalf of ASEAN Member Countries and my colleagues in the ASEAN Secretariat, I would like to extend a very warm welcome to all of you.  We are very pleased to see that the ASEAN Business Advisory Council has finally gotten off the ground with this inaugural meeting. 

The establishment of the ASEAN Business Advisory Council was a decision of the ASEAN Leaders at the 7th ASEAN Summit held in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam, in 2001.  The idea is to engage business people from the ASEAN region so that the private sector’s input can be factored into the policy-making process. 

Injecting a private-sector perspective into the economic development and integration process in ASEAN is important.  All the intra-regional as well as extra regional initiatives – as reflected in AFTA, AIA, AFAS, and the FTAs and CEPs within ASEAN and between ASEAN and its Dialogue Partners – are targeted at creating a pro-business environment in ASEAN.  It is essential that the economic policies of the ASEAN Member Countries and their Dialogue Partners address the needs and concerns of their respective business communities. 

Private-sector representation is increasingly a part of ASEAN’s economic cooperation with its Dialogue Partners.  We already have the AFTA-CER Business Council (ACBC). We are working on a proposal for an ASEAN-India Business Council.  The ACBC has contributed to economic cooperation between ASEAN and the CER countries (Australia and New Zealand) by coming up with a number of recommendations to help double trade and investment flows between ASEAN and the CER by 2010, and reducing transactions costs in the process.  The establishment of the ASEAN Business Advisory Council is, of course, another key component of the overall strategy of increasing the private-sector’s presence in ASEAN’s economic policy deliberations.

The ASEAN Business Advisory Council Members are distinguished leaders of commerce and industry from ASEAN Member Countries.  I am confident that your views and recommendations would help to substantially invigorate and strengthen the economies of ASEAN.  We need your business statesmenship and public advocacy to help move ASEAN towards a single market of more than 500 million people even as we modernize and globalize the individual economies and integrate them.

In this era of globalisation and intense competition from around the region and beyond, it is imperative that we in ASEAN put our collective minds together to come up with effective strategies to deal with the challenges of the New Economy.  Your practical experiences and knowledge will add great value to the work of our political leadership and bureaucratic agencies in positioning ASEAN as a single trade, investment and tourism destination.

I would like to close by wishing you all an interesting and fruitful meeting.  Thank you.