Top officials and entrepreneurs from 25 ASEM member countries attended the Asia-Europe High-level Economic Forum, which convened on Tuesday in Dalian, a costal city in Northeast China's Liaoning Province.
The one-day forum, set to discuss trade and investment issues freely, is the prelude to the ASEM Economic Ministers' Meeting. The three main topics set by forum organizers are the trend of global economic development, ASEM economic cooperation, and the trade and investment environment in China.
Xia Deren, the mayor of Dalian Municipal Government and chair of the forum, delivered his welcome speech and briefly introduced Dalian's economic development.
"In the process of globalization, Dalian is no longer a city of Dalian people alone, it will now integrate itself with the outside world and become on a par with the international economic system," Xia said.
Governor of Liaoning Province Bo Xilai highly praised Dalian, where he has also served as a mayor several years ago.
"Dalian has a short history of over 100 years, but it's a dynamic city. Please remember Dalian," Bo said in English. He also recommended local cities like Yingkou, Fuxin, hoping to attract more foreign investment to restructure local industries.
Lu Fuyuan, Chinese minister of commerce, put forward four topics for discussion on the forum. First, ASEM member countries should continue their opening-up economic and trade policy, and quicken the pace to facilitate trade and investment. Second, they should further strengthen cooperation on technology. Third, tap the potential of current cooperation mechanism. Fourth, ASEM member countries should make full use of the creativity of enterprises, and provide good environment for their cooperation.
"Since China's accession to the WTO in 2001, it has standardized its economic and trade policies, and improved the transparency of its decision-making. Market openness is further enlarged. China's huge market brings lots of business opportunities for enterprises worldwide. From 1998 to 2002, the import volume of China reached US$1.0689 trillion. In the next three years, the predicted import volume will exceed US$1 trillion," Lu said.
An EU official said in her speech that globalization has brought different results for some developing countries. "East Asia has benefited from the globalization, while African countries haven't." She took the foreign direct investment (FDI) as an example where some regions like the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong attracted 34 percent of the total FDI in 2001, while South African countries saw only 0.5 percent of FDI inflow.
"Globalization brings benefits and risks. What we should do is to maximize the former and minimize the latter," she concluded.
Mr. Phehin Abdul Rahman Taib, the minister of industry and primary resources of Brunei, highlighted the economic integration in Association of South East Asia Nations (ASEAN).
"ASEAN's share in world GDP has risen from 4.2 percent in 2000 to 6.4 percent in 2001. The more important thing is that the swelling middle class in ASEAN countries will bring bigger consumption markets and business opportunities for enterprises."
He also emphasized the importance of establishing close ties with East Asia and the EU.
Tadashi Okamura, the president and CEO of Toshiba Corporation, vetoed the opinion that China's cheap labor costs made Japanese manufacturers move their factories to China and therefore posed a threat to Japanese industries.
"China keeps US$21.8 billion surplus on Japan, Japan keeps US$17.4 billion trade surplus on Korea, while Korea keeps US$13.1 billion trade surplus on China. Therefore, the economies in East Asia are supplementary," Okamura said.
"We should view the trade barriers as a challenge rather than a threat. China and Japan should work together to push forward the establishment of an East Asia Economic Circle," he said.
(China.org.cn by Staff Reporter Tang Fuchun, July 22, 2003)
