---------------------------------------------------------- Visit Indonesia Daily News Online HomePage: http://www.indo-news.com/ Please Visit Our Sponsor http://www.indo-news.com/cgi-bin/ads1 ---------------------------------------------------------- Business Times [Singapore] 24 Jul 1999 Japan plans new Asean aid initiative It will focus on manufacturing sector and is a follow-up to US$30b Miyazawa Initiative >From Anthony Rowley in Tokyo JAPAN is expected to launch a major new initiative soon to aid industrial recovery in Asean and other crisis-hit areas of Asia as a follow-up to the US$30 billion (S$50.9 billion) Miyazawa Initiative, which aims at restoring the region's battered financial systems. The 10 Asean member countries will be given an outline of the new plan next week during their post-ministerial conference in Singapore. Underscoring the importance Japan places on the need for further aid to the region, a high-level official mission will leave Tokyo at the end of next month to assess the needs of Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and South Korea now that stability has returned to financial markets and economies are showing some signs of recovery. The mission, which will be headed by Toyota Motor Corporation chairman Hiroshi Okuda, who also heads the economic organisation Nikkeiren, will submit recommendations to Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi who will then unfold details of Japan's latest initiative when he attends the Asean plus three (Japan, China and South Korea) group meeting in Manila in October. A senior Japanese foreign ministry official told BT last night that Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura will offer his Asean counterparts "hints" of what Tokyo's latest initiative will focus upon when he meets them privately early next week in Singapore. BT understands that there will be a heavy emphasis in the new plan on revival of the manufacturing sector in Asean and elsewhere. Most of the US$80 billion of financial aid Japan has so far committed to the region (of which US$68 billion has already been disbursed) in the aftermath of the Asian currency crisis has been aimed at restoring exports and imports, regenerating corporate credits and banking activity and generally aiding financial and economic recovery. But some officials suggest that Asean's manufacturing sector, which has had to bear the brunt of the region's economic slowdown, has not received sufficient attention in aid programmes announced so far. Full economic recovery cannot be expected to occur until the manufacturing sector is restored to full health, they say. Officials also say that while international attention has focused on the problems of the "bubble economy" in Asean and the collapse of currencies and the financial and real estate markets in the region, the problems of the manufacturing sector have been neglected. New initiatives are needed to correct this situation, they say. Other senior Japanese businessmen apart from Mr Okuda will be included in what is being called Japan's "Mission for Revitalisation of Asian Economies", as well as economic experts. Toyoo Gyohten, former Japanese vice-minister of finance for international affairs and now president of the Tokyo-based Institute for International Monetary Affairs, will also join the mission. Further underscoring the importance of the mission, officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, the official Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund and the aid-administering Japan International Cooperation Agency will also be included as observers. Similar missions last year led to the launching of the New Miyazawa Initiative. In an effort to attract back global investment to the Asian region, Japan will stress in Singapore the need for Asean and its dialogue partners to set a "positive tone" during the post-ministerial conference and in other meetings. A foreign ministry officials said last night to BT that "now is the time to change the pessimistic tone of the past two years". At the Asean Regional Forum meeting following the post-ministerial conference, Japan will push for the ARF to be given a stronger and more structured role in promoting regional security in Asia. Tokyo is expected to suggest that the ARF move beyond the stage of confidence-building measures to a more active role of preventive diplomacy. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 24 Jul 1999 jam 07:45:07 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
