PHNOM PENH, 2 September 2003 — Southeast Asia is poised to reap more from investment and trade this year, with governments moving to counter extremist threats and the apparently limited effect of the SARS contagion, officials said yesterday. Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the 10 nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is expected to recover this year after falling 18 percent year-on-year to $12.4 billion in 2002 due to a global economic slump, political tensions and reduced corporate spending.
But preliminary statistics show the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome this year has had only a “limited impact on investments” in the ASEAN region. While the recent bombings in Jakarta and Bombay have put a dampener on financial markets, the outlook for ASEAN remains positive, trade ministers from the 10-nation economic bloc said in Phnom Penh.
They said they were “upbeat on the outlook of FDI flows to the region in 2003 and 2004 because of a better global economic situation and stronger regional economic development”.
Trade in ASEAN, while only slightly expanding in 2002, shows signs of continuing upward this year. Total ASEAN trade grew only 2.75 percent year-on-year to $706.70 billion last year, with the United States, Japan, the European Union and China as its top trading partners, they said.
But trade from January to March this year rose 15.29 percent over last year to $186.25 billion. ASEAN’s resolve to combat terrorism has only been boosted by the latest attacks, said Singapore Trade Minister George Yeo, whose government has been cracking down on suspected cells of the extremist Islamic Jemaah Islamiyah movement.
“We should not make light of the problem of terrorism and within ASEAN now security cooperation has increased significantly,” Yeo said. “There should not be a corner of ASEAN where (extremists) have a haven to plot evil deeds. At the same time, there is now a certain resilience in ASEAN which suggests to us that we will not only address this problem but live with it.”
Philippine Trade Secretary Manuel Roxas, whose government is also at the forefront of the “war on terror”, said intelligence agencies in the region were now closely working together to address the problem.
The forthcoming ASEAN leaders’ summit in Bali, Indonesia, would also serve notice to the world that the bloc’s progress would not be hindered by extremist attacks, he said. More than 200 people, mostly foreign holidaymakers, were killed by a bomb attack in the Indonesian resort last year.
