Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : PUTRA WORLD TRADE CENTRE,
KUALA LUMPUR
Tarikh/Date : 07/08/97
Tajuk/Title : THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE
ASEAN-EAST ASIAN BUSINESS FORUM
1. Let me first of all thank the Ministry of
International Trade and Industry for inviting me to
officiate the opening of the ASEAN-East Asian Business
Forum today.
2. The ASEAN-East Asian Business Forum and the ASEAN
SMI Showcase 1997 launched three days ago are efforts
jointly organised by Malaysia with support of the ASEAN
Secretariat and the Japanese Government through JETRO.
Such efforts are indeed commendable as they lend
substance to the close relationship of ASEAN countries
together with Japan, Korea and China. This positive
cooperation and business linkages are the only way to
ensure the prosperity and sustainability of this region.
3. The ASEAN and the East Asian economies as a region
is huge in terms of land area, population, resources,
markets as well as the potential for growth. At present
the levels of development differ from country to country.
Priorities and the abilities to transform our economies
into competitive global players also differ, each
pursuing its priorities and pace of development in the
best possible way they know. However, combined together,
the region can be a formidable force especially with the
huge economic potential of this region.
4. With the onset of globalisation and the resultant
borderlessness of countries, the need to collaborate and
foster strategic alliances, either bilaterally or
multilaterally, becomes urgent. Only by working together
can a robust and sustainable growth of this region be
achieved.
5. ASEAN economic cooperation appears to have
contributed towards its successes but by comparison to
the European Union it is minimal. What has happened is
that ASEAN countries are quick to learn from each other
about economic development. This success has been more
through individual effort, although a peaceful
environment and frequent consultations have contributed.
Nevertheless they have been almost uniformly successful
with Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia ranking
among the leading top 22 trading nations. ASEAN has also
been an attractive region for the flow of cross
investments both from outside and within the ASEAN
region.
6. ASEAN's new members, Laos and Myanmar, and perhaps
the entrance of Cambodia at a later stage, would offer
potential investors with an integrated region of economic
opportunities. By then, there should be a more cohesive
ASEAN collaboration in the areas of transport, energy and
communications, infrastructure development, science and
technology, agriculture as well as environmental
preservation. With the new ASEAN image and a population
of almost 500 million people, the region is poised to be
a strong market for investors and businesses in the near
future.
7. The economic dynamism of the East-Asian region
continues to make great stride, the result of sustainable
growth in exports especially manufactured goods and
increase in the flows of foreign direct investment. The
East Asian countries in particular, Japan, South Korea
and the People's Republic of China have made significant
contributions to world trade.
8. Set against this scenario, it is envisaged that in a
decade, ASEAN will emerge as a unified South East Asia
sharing common goals and economic vision, anchored on a
desire to see the region becoming a boon to investors and
businesses alike. This scenario implies that adjustments
need to be made in the way investors and firms operate in
the region. Under the new trade and industrial
environment, companies are expected to locate themselves
not to just serve one particular ASEAN country market
only, but to look at ASEAN as one large market.
9. It is expected that under this circumstance, a major
challenge to ASEAN will be to keep international trade
open. As open trading system has been a key factor that
supports the development of the ASEAN region, it is in
ASEAN's interest to ensure that this open global trading
environment continues to provide a supportive and
conducive framework to enable the region to sustain and
further enhance liberalisation efforts.
10. In the context of dynamic economic growth, the role
of small and medium sized industries (SMI) will be
considerable. Worldwide, SMI constitute more than 80
percent of the economy. This sector therefore assumes an
important role in the economic development of both
developed and developing economies. In most countries,
SMI have been the source of employment, augmenting rural
income, stimulating indigenous innovation, creativity and
indigenous technologies. With changes taking place
globally in terms of competition, ways of doing business
and changes in the trading and investment environment,
SMI must be prepared to undertake changes in order to
survive competition and to be an important contributor to
economic development.
11. In the midst of this wave of change, the agility and
ability to adjust and respond flexibly to the market
needs and demands are essential to SMI. While the
government can provide some assistance and facilities to
spearhead the development of the SMI, it is for the
entrepreneurs themselves to use their creativity and
innovative strategies to build up their market niches,
both domestically and globally. Towards this end, the
competitiveness of SMI can no longer be relied on cost
efficiency alone, for equally important is the ability
to offer products,
or services with higher quality and greater value added,
at internationally competitive prices.
12. The SMI must not only concentrate on building up
entrepreneurial expertise, but be competitive in the ever
dynamic market place. They must be vigilant and be able
to keep abreast of the changes in the international
trading environment and be able to produce and export
world-class products in order to remain competitive. In
meeting these challenges, SMI in this region must adopt a
global perspective of manufacturing and marketing
operations, investing in the right type of technology and
processes that can contribute to efficient production,
undertake R & D to develop new and improved products, as
well as embark on the promotion and marketing of products
and services to gain significant market shares.
13. Unlike some East Asian countries such as Japan and
Korea, the SMI in most ASEAN countries are still weak in
terms of inter-firm linkages with their larger
counterparts. These linkages are important to ensure the
strengthening of the industrialisation base of the
economy in addition to providing market access as well as
the opportunities for cross border transfer of technology
and sharing of technical expertise. It is therefore the
task of organisations in the respective ASEAN countries
to learn from these East Asian countries and to try to
adopt and adapt the strategies to suit the requirement of
each country.
14. As the new millennium sets in, the SMI must assume a
greater and more important role in enhancing and
strengthening the economy of ASEAN and the East Asian
countries. The demands of market liberalisation
measures, of global trade and economics provide
challenges and opportunities for SMI. Indeed, the
different levels of economic development of ASEAN and
East Asian countries provide opportunities for developing
and forging common strategies to exploit the
complementarities in resource endowment and capabilities.
15. The ASEAN - SMI Showcase `97 and the ASEAN-East
Asian Business Forum therefore provide an avenue for
those involved in the manufacturing industries, directly
or indirectly, to meet, discuss and share their
experiences with each other in developing the SMI in
their respective countries. Most of all it is envisaged
through the business matching sessions, participants of
this forum will bring home meaningful and rewarding
results.
16. The initial contact established should be further
nurtured into concrete businesses and joint ventures.
Indeed, with the staging of these events, industrial
linkages between ASEAN and the East Asian countries will
be further enhanced, especially with the realisation that
the ASEAN and East Asian countries will indeed be the key
to strengthening the global economic interlinkages in the
next decade, turning the area into one of the most
competitive marketplaces in the world.
17. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all
the participants successful deliberations in the Business
Forum. I am sure they will benefit from the experiences
of the speakers and hopefully this will add another
milestone in their business strategies in terms of
fostering and forging new business linkages and joint
ventures.
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