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US-ASEAN Business Council Calls for Stronger U.S.-ASEAN Ties
In paper prepared for Bush Administration and Congress, Council cites progress in improving and expanding U.S.-ASEAN relations; recommends further steps
(Washington, DC) The US-ASEAN Business Council today released a paper calling on the Bush Administration and the Congress to explore ways to expand and deepen United States engagement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The Council argued that the significant U.S. commercial, economic, political, and security interests in the ASEAN region, especially in the post-September 11 context, merit efforts to create closer and deeper ties with the region.
The Council’s paper noted that significant efforts have already made by the Bush Administration to engage the ASEAN region, both before and after September 11. It outlined five broad objectives sought by the business community, including consolidating and further strengthening U.S. engagement in ASEAN; taking initial steps toward the creation of a U.S.-ASEAN free trade area; responding to ASEAN+3 and bilateral initiatives in ASEAN; promoting trade and investment facilitation and liberalization; and, encouraging economic, financial and other reforms in ASEAN. The paper makes a number of specific recommendations in support of each of these objectives.
"We are encouraged by the way that the Bush Administration has reached out to the ASEAN region," said Ernest Z. Bower, President of the US-ASEAN Business Council. Bower noted that over the past year, President Bush has met with heads of government of five ASEAN countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand), and progress has been made on a number of important commercial and economic objectives in the region, including the approval of the U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement, and substantial progress on negotiations for a U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreement. On a regional level, Secretary of State Powell participated in the ASEAN Regional Forum and Post Ministerial Conferences last August, and hosted the ASEAN-US Dialogue in November.
"Taken together, these actions represent a serious effort to shore up our relations in a part of the world that is clearly vital to our commercial, economic, political, and strategic interests," Bower said. “The fact is that business and government share the same goals, including ASEAN economic growth, political stability and social progress toward stable, free market democracies. The presence of U.S. companies in the region promotes these objectives."
Building on successes in 2001, the Council argued that the U.S. Government should expand its relationships with ASEAN by following through on earlier initiatives and broadening its engagement in the region through new actions. Among other recommendations, the Council called for more cabinet-level visits to ASEAN, a strengthening of U.S. military-to-military ties in the region, U.S. visits by legislative and parliamentary groups from ASEAN nations, and higher-level Government participation in the ASEAN-U.S. Dialogue.
The paper identifies a U.S.-ASEAN Free Trade Area as a desirable long-term goal. As a first step, it recommends the development of a “road map” that identifies the steps that would be required to begin the policy process leading to the start of negotiations.
The Council also called for more attention to be paid to "ASEAN+3" developments, referring to the expanded engagement between the ten ASEAN countries and China, Japan, and Korea. Over the past several years, ASEAN has established a regular series of consultations with the three northeast Asian countries, including annual meetings of the 13 countries’ heads of government, as well as more frequent meetings of their ministers of foreign affairs, finance, and trade.
In support of trade facilitation and liberalization, the paper calls for early passage of Trade Promotion Authority in the U.S. Congress, and, among other measures, also calls for the full implementation of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA).
Finally, the paper calls on the Administration to continue to support economic restructuring in the region by encouraging ASEAN governments to follow through on their proposed economic, financial, and regulatory reforms, as well as those involving transparency and corporate governance. Through its Center for Technology Cooperation, the US-ASEAN Business Council will support reform efforts by conducting private sector seminars and training programs on commodities trade rules, corporate governance, risk management, and other subjects, developed in cooperation with ASEAN governments and private sector organizations.
ASEAN is a major U.S. trading partner, with two-way trade totaling US$107 billion through the first eleven months of 2001. Collectively, the ASEAN nations represent the third largest overseas U.S. export market after Japan and the EU. In addition, U.S. investment in the five major ASEAN markets stood at slightly under US$51 billion at the end of 2000, a level which is comparable to U.S. investment in Japan, exceeds U.S. investment in Mexico, and is five times the level of U.S. investment in China.
The paper, entitled "ASEAN and Its Importance to the United States
of America: The Urgent Need to Look to the Future while Building on the
Past" is available on the US-ASEAN Business Council Web site at
http://www.us-asean.org/The_ASEAN_Region_and_Its_Importance_to_the_US.doc
The US-ASEAN Business Council is America’s leading private business organization dedicated to promoting increased trade and investment between the United States and the member nations of ASEAN. For information on the US-ASEAN Business Council or general information on the ASEAN region, please contact John Goyer at jgoyer@usasean.org or visit the Council’s Web site at www.us-asean.org.
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