April / May2001
ASIA
|
63rd CACCI Council Meeting concluded with various decisions
The Confederation of Asia-Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CACCI), calling to mind the costs of the recent Asian Economic turmoil on business. People and governments around the region, stressed the need to implement appropriate policy responses that will ensure longer-term economic. commercial and political benefits to countries in the region. These include spreading and entrenching democracy, tackling corruption and expanding transparency in the public sector. and removing unnecessary distortions to the effective operation of market forces. Meeting in Batam. Indonesia for its 63rd Council Meeting on 14-15 May 2001. CACCI a regional organization of chambers of commerce and industry. discussed short- and Iong-term issues that have major impact on the region's economic recovery and recommended appropriate and effective policy framework,- that would ensure sustainability of the recovery process. The meeting was attended by representatives of the national chambers of commerce and industry and business people from 19 economies, including Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, Darussalam, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Vietnam. CACCI called on governments in the region to continue to adopt flexible exchange rates, to increase cooperation to avert currency crices, and to cooperate with each other in order to prevent recurrence of such crises. It urged individual governments to continue to monitor capital flows in cooperation with international and regional institutions, and with other governments. CACCI acknowledged that policies of reform and transition - from regulated to liberalised systems - can provide substantial challenges for governments, and for markets. While expressing general preference for liberal financial, foreign exchange, foreign investment and labour market regimes. CACCI also acknowledged that each country must reach these objectives taking into account its own cercumstances. Without such circumstances as a reason for not reaching these objectives. For reform and transition countries in Asia, this means. amongst other things, eradicating corruption and increasing transparency in government decision-making. and putting in place world's best-practice accounting, legal and corporate systems and regulation including bankruptcy and liquidation. Credit and investment decisions of financial institutions must be based primarily on the commercial merit of the application. Good corporate governance should be pursued with vigor. CACCI also stressed that structural adjustment assistance, either in the form of externally imposed policy change, reform of weak industries or firms or in labour market programs for impacted employees, if and when required, should not be used to impair the reform process or create a long-term dependency on such assistance. Inaugurated by Her Excellency, Madame Megawati Soekarnoputri, Vice President of Indonesia, this year's gathering featured a Business Forum focusing, on the theme-Partnership for Progress." Experts from different fields spoke on the Forum's two major topics, namely: (a) the IMS-GT (Indonesia-Malaysia-Singapore Growth Triangle) as a case study on sub-regional economic cooperation-, and (b) Sustainable Asian Economic Recovery: Short and Long-Term Issues. The line-up of speakers at the Opening Ceremony included Aburizal Bakrie, President of Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry: Governor Saleh Djasit of the Riau Province; and Soo Young Lee, President of CACCI. CACCl also convened its 63rd Council Meeting to discuss ongoing and proposed programmes and activities as well as to deliberate on internal policy maters among others. The CACCI Council; Agreed to focus efforts on the activities of the following Product and Service Councils:
Business matching sessions held on 14 and 15 of May 2001, were also conducted to provide a forum for overseas delegates interested to promote business linkages in the region specially for the SMEs and explore possible areas of cooperation or joint venture in several sectors including fishery and agricultural industry, mining, shipyard and metal industry, chemical industry, tourism, information technology and electronics, food, garments and furniture. CACCI signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Association for Engineering Education in Southeast Asia and the Pacific (AEESEAP) for the primary purpose of establishing a framework of cooperation in the development and application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for industrial and business purposes through training and education. CACCI agreed to hold its 64h Council Meeting in Ulaanbataar, Mongolia, tentatively during the first week of June 2002 with the Mongolian Chamber of Commerce and Industry as host, and the 19th CACCI Conference in Incheon, Korea in mid-October 2002, with the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry as host. China's Industrial growth up
Chinese factories increased their output by 11.5 per cent in April from one year earlier, helped by local enterprises' purchases of machinery and equipment, according to official data published recently. The growth rate was slightly down from 12.1 per cent in March, although it helped push up the figure for the first four months of the year to 11,3 per cent, the national bureau of statistics said. Heavy industry, the supplier of machinery to local companies, increased its output by almost 14 per cent in April, while light industrial enterprises, which produce consumer items, registered an expansion in output of just nine percent in the same month. Industrial enterprises were hurt by a slow down in the world economy as their exports rose by less than 11 per cent in April, compared with nearly a 16-per cent rise in March. Nevertheless, sales by industrial enterprises improved, as they sold 97.8 per cent of what they manufactured , up from 97.3 per cent in April of 2000, according to the statistics bureau. Japan's trade surplus down
Japan's trade surplus in March slumped 17.2 per cent year-on-year to 915.0 billion yen ( 7.5 billion $) as a rise in Asian imports overpowered slowing export growth, the finance ministry said. It marked the ninth consecutive monthly drop in the trade surplus as a US led global economic slowdown tightened its grip on the world's second biggest economy. Overall exports grew 4.7 per cent to 4,920.1 billion yen, while imports rose a much faster 11.4 per cent to 4,005.1 billion yen, the ministry said. With the rest of Asia Japan's trade surplus tumbled 34.2 per cent to 268.5 billion yen, the ministry said, citing imports of hi-tech products and garments. Japan's trade surplus with the rest of Asia dropped 34,2 per cent year-on-year in March as growth of Asian-bound exports withered in the face of the US led global economic sllow down, the finance ministry said . Japan's surplus with the region came to 268,5 billion yen (2.2 billion dollars) with exports rising 4.2 per cent to 1,962.4 billion yen and imports jumping a stronger 14.8 per cent to 1,693.9 billion yen, the ministry said. Thai economy on the way to recovery
Thailand's economy is on the road to recovery but the government must keep a check on stimulus spending in next year's budget, an International Monetary Fund (IMF) representative said recently. IMF Asia pacific division chief Reza Moghadam said after meetings with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and Finance Minister Somkid Jatusripitak that Thailand had an "exemplary" relationship with the IMF. He said reform introduced since the 1997-98 financial crisis, which left the Thai economy in tatters, were laying a framework for a sustained recovery. Singapore's economic growth plunges
Singapore's annual economic growth slowed to 4.5 percent in the first three months of these year, down from 11 to 4.5 percent in the last quarter of 2000,, the government said recently. Manufacturing, the backbone of Singapore's economy, expanded by just 2.3 percent in the first quarter of 2001, after growing by 19 percent in the first quarter of 2000, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said in a statement. Manufacturing growth was dragged down by electronics, which "grew by an anemic 1.1 percent, a far cry from 21 percent in the last quarter ," the ministry statement said. South Korea posted a trade surplus
South Korea posted a trade surplus of dlrs 1.05 billion in April, compared with a surplus of dlrs 177 million in April 2000, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said recently. The trade surplus in the first four months of this year totaled dlrs 3.24 billion versus dlrs 615 million in the same period last year, said the ministry. Customs-cleared exports in April fell 9.3 percent year-on-year to dlrs 12.27 billion, while imports stood at dlrs 11.22 billion, down 16 percent from a year earlier. Indonesia to grow 5-6%
Indonesia's economic growth is expected to average 5-6 percent in 2002,2004 after slowing to 3.5 percent this year, Finance Minister Prijadi Praptosuhardjo said recently. "Economic growth should be at an average of 5-6 percent over the next three years after expected slow growth of 3.5 percent growth this year ", Praptosuhardjo said . He said if the 5-6 per cent growth was maintained during that period, Indonesia should then be on track for "normal" growth there after. "He did not provide figures for "normal" growth. |
