Friday 20 March 2009

South-east Asian nations band together to safeguard exports

South-east Asian nations band together to safeguard exports
South-east Asian leaders called for greater co-ordinated regional action to help restore their damaged export-driven economies.

By Ben Harrington
Last Updated: 10:38PM GMT 01 Mar 2009

At the annual Association of south-east Asian Nations (Asean) summit held at the Thai seaside resort of Hua Hin, the 10 members of the organisation endorsed measures to stimulate economic activity, ease access to credit, and stand firm against trade protectionism.
Asean members include Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Brunei, Cambodia and Laos.

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Export-dependent Asian economic growth is slowing rapidly as consumers and companies cut back spending amid the worsening global downturn.
In south-east Asia, Singapore is in recession and economists believe Malaysia and Thailand are on the brink, while Indonesian growth has slowed to its weakest pace in more than two years.
Many Asian countries have announced stimulus plans to stem the economic damage, but exports will not stage a major recovery until consumers in the West start spending again.
However, The 10 leaders of Asean failed to spell out any specific policies the group would take in a chairman's statement. Leaders also called for reform of the international financial system to take more account of developing countries. Meanwhile, the Asean members also said they still plan to become an economic community similar to the European Union by 2015 to boost competitiveness.
However, the group stressed that the EU was an inspiration and not a model.
One of the less high-profile agreements to come out of the summit is that dentists are now allowed to practice throughout the region.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/economics/4903911/South-east-Asian-nations-band-together-to-safeguard-exports.html

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