ASEAN SAYS

[moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

MBARGO: 15 APRIL 1999, 12 NOON 

                                    PRESS RELEASE

               SEVERINO CALLS FOR ASEAN-PECC CLOSE PARTNERSHIP 

SOURCE:ASEAN

CANBERRA, Apr.15 - Speaking at the meeting of the Standing Committee of the
Pacific Economic
Cooperation Council (PECC) today, ASEAN Secretary-General Rodolfo C.
Severino, Jr., called for close
partnership between ASEAN and PECC. Severino said that ASEAN and PECC could
hold regular consultations
on regional issues, exchange results of studies, and work together on
certain economic issues. Seven ASEAN
members belong to PECC, a tripartite organization comprising business,
government, and academic
representatives. 

In his speech, Severino also expressed confidence that based on the
estimates and projections available to the
ASEAN Secretariat, ASEAN's economies should begin their recovery this year.
He added that ASEAN's actual
economic performance will depend on a combination of and the interplay among
three sets of factors - the national
policies and reform measures that each member state adopts, the strength of
the cooperation within ASEAN, and
developments elsewhere in the world. 

Focusing on ASEAN's efforts to address the economic and financial crisis,
Severino informed the PECC that
ASEAN has launched the process of regional economic surveillance as an early
warning mechanism. He said that
the surveillance process aims "to help the ASEAN governments keep track of
macroeconomic trends and other
economic and social indicators - and of any unusual glitches in them - and
thus alert them to any impending
problems". 

He added that a strong and decisive ASEAN response to the financial crisis
has been the acceleration of regional
economic integration. At their meeting in Hanoi in December 1998, the ASEAN
heads of government decided to
move forward the completion of the ASEAN Free Trade Area to 2002 for the six
original signatories to the AFTA
agreement. They also decided to waive the 30 percent national-equity
requirement for investment under the
ASEAN Industrial Cooperation scheme for the 1999-2000 period. Furthermore,
foreign investments applied for in
1999 or 2000 are to be exempt from the corporate income tax for at least
three years or given a corporate
investment tax allowance of at least 30 percent. 
SOURCE:ASEAN