Speech by H.E. Mr. Ong Keng Yong
Secretary-General of ASEAN
at the 2nd ASEAN Business and Investment Summit 2004
27 November 2004, Vientiane, Lao PDR
1. First of all, I would like to thank the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ABAC) for inviting me to this event. Indeed, it gives me great pleasure to address the distinguished participants of this important Summit.
2. The establishment of the ABAC was a decision of the ASEAN Leaders at the ASEAN Summit held in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei 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. The ABAC successfully staged the 1st ASEAN-BIS in Bali, Indonesia at the sidelines of the 9th ASEAN Summit.
3. The ASEAN-BIS could become a regular feature to promote intra-regional trade and of course, showcase the wonderful business opportunities in the region. In this regard, I would like to personally congratulate the Government and the business sector of Lao PDR for their commitment in making the 2nd ASEAN-BIS a success.
4. Let me now share with you, how I see we can transform the region for cross-ASEAN business and investment.
5. As a first step, ASEAN has to convince the business and investing community that ASEAN is a worthy place for their commercial and production activities. ASEAN should be a single market and production base. To accelerate the integration progress, ASEAN Leaders has endorsed eleven (11) priority sectors for enhanced regional integration as follows: wood-based products, automotives, rubber-based products, textiles and apparels, agro-based products, fisheries, electronics, e-ASEAN, healthcare, air travel and tourism. Recognising that Member Countries are constrained by resources, the selection of the 11 priority sectors is a pragmatic beginning. These sectors will serve as precedents for future integration.
6. Our region is blessed with rich diversity in every area. But we are also challenged by the differences in economic progress between our Member Countries. The underlying commonality however is Member Countries’ respective business communities that share similar goals and ambitions.
7. Increasingly, the business community is seen as a strong enabler in forging closer economic relations between nations. This is because strong and influential commercial firms looking for investments and new markets often induce governments into closer ties with neighbouring countries. The business people are indeed the key factor in ASEAN economic integration and we need to establish a more effective way to harness the entrepreneurial talent and vigour for increasing economic growth.
8. 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). 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 ASEAN-India Business Council (AIBC) has been recently established. The AIBC can mobilize the rich resources and high spirit of the business people in ASEAN and India to quickly expand trade and investment flows between the two sides.
9. Business Councils would undoubtedly provide private-sector perspective and feedback on the initiatives aimed at broadening and deepening economic linkages between ASEAN and its dialogue partners. Injecting a private-sector perspective into the economic development and integration process will increase the likelihood that economic policies adequately reflect the needs of the business communities.
10. Similarly, the establishment of ASEAN Business Advisory Council is an integral component of the overall strategy of increasing the private-sector’s inputs into policy-making. The ABAC should provide an “ASEAN Business” perspective in economic policy deliberation. In doing so, it is the big picture and strategic consideration which the business people must convey across to the bureaucrats and political leaders. This way, a wider perspective is obtained instead of a narrow focus favouring specific companies or individuals.
11. Beyond this, an important strategy of ASEAN to reinforce ASEAN own economic integration is strengthening ASEAN’s economic linkages with key trade partners. This is through Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with China, Japan, India, Australia/New Zealand and the Republic of Korea. Let me update you as what has happened in ASEAN’s negotiations with these Dialogue Partners.
12. For ASEAN-China FTA talks, we have just concluded the Trade in Goods Agreement and an agreement on dispute settlement mechanism and will now continue with the trade in services and investment negotiations. ASEAN and Japan will commence FTA negotiations in early 2005, to be completed in two years. The FTA discussion with India is progressing albeit slower than what we are hoping for. For Australia/New Zealand which form the CER, we will start negotiations in early 2005 and complete the talks in two years. ASEAN and ROK will sign a joint declaration at the Vientiane Summit which, inter alia, will launch the ASEAN-ROK FTA negotiations in early 2005.
