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Asean ministers seek Arab investments

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) finance ministers meeting in Dubai on called on Arab investors to invest in their region and said their countries remain largely unaffected by the global financial crisis.

  • By Shakir Husain, Staff Reporter
  • Published: 00:14 October 9, 2008
  • Gulf News

Dubai: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) finance ministers meeting in Dubai on called on Arab investors to invest in their region and said their countries remain largely unaffected by the global financial crisis.

The ministers said their banking institutions have not required a collective "systemic response" unlike the West, where governments have announced huge rescue packages to save troubled banks.

"The banking and financial system in Asean are not facing problems of systemic confidence. There are no fault-lines in the Asean banking system," Singapore's Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said.

Malaysian Finance Minister Nor Mohammad Yakcop said one lesson that Asean countries have learnt from the 1997-98 financial crisis was that regulations are very important. "We will continue to exercise vigilance," he said.

Surin Pitsuwan, Asean Secretary-General, said the ministers had held fruitful meetings on developing groups in the Gulf-Asean cooperation forum.

"Countries in Asean offer real alternative investment destinations to Gulf investors," he said.

He cited strong growth in the 10-member Asean bloc and China and India. "The private sector here [Gulf] is reciprocating Asean's enthusiasm for mutual cooperation," he added.

Dr Omar Bin Sulaiman, welcoming the delegations, said: "As the UAE continues to experience rapid growth, Dubai is committed to forging and developing strong economic and investment relations with all of the world's major business hubs.

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