[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

Intervention at the ASEAN Post-Mini



Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright 
Intervention at the ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conference 
Manila, Philippines, July 28, 1998
As released by the Office of the Spokesman
U.S. Department of State 


As Prepared for Delivery


Fellow ministers, distinguished colleagues: I am pleased to join you 
today on behalf of the United States. I welcome the opportunity we have 
to discuss this region's economic difficulties and our effort to 
overcome them.

It is clear that whatever the ultimate solution to the crisis, it will 
have to come from the nations represented in this room. This meeting has 
brought all the countries directly affected together with their most 
important economic and diplomatic partners. Together, we represent a 
community of interest and we have no greater common interest than in 
speeding this region's recovery.

There is no questioning the severity of the crisis. All across this 
region, families that had joined the ranks of the middle class are now 
finding it hard to put food on the table, while families that were once 
poor are now desperate. Workers are losing their jobs. Students are 
being forced to leave school. Hard won gains in education, health and 
sanitation are being threatened. 

Yet even as we acknowledge the difficulty of the present situation, we 
should also acknowledge the achievements of this region over the last 30 
years. For Asia's success was no illusion. And its continued success 
depends on learning the lessons of the past.

Let us remember that a generation ago many of ASEAN's members were mired 
in conflict. China, Korea and Indonesia were three of the poorest 
countries on earth. Since then, the nations of this region have lifted 
more people out of poverty more rapidly than any comparable group of 
nations in history. We've seen new democracies born, modern cities rise, 
and old barriers to trade fall. How wonderful that in this century of 
Lenin and Stalin and Pol Pot, the one truly successful world-historic 
revolution in Asia turned out to be the agricultural revolution.

The economic crisis has eroded these gains, but it has not erased them. 
Not by a long shot. 

At a time so many people are hurting, it is inevitable that some will 
lose faith in the principles underlying this region's achievements, 
including the value of economic openness. It is true that few if any of 
us predicted this crisis, and that when it came few if any of us foresaw 
its depth or duration. 

No nation and no school of thought can claim it has all the answers.

But if we are going to return this region to growth, we do have to 
remember how it achieved growth in the first place. This region's 
success was built on the initiative of its people, but it was also made 
possible by an open global trading system, and fueled by foreign 
investment.

In the past year, those nations that have done most to reassure markets 
of their commitment to open trade, transparency, and sound macroeconomic 
policies have made the most progress in regaining market confidence. 
That confidence is based on a simple premise: An economy powered by open 
and sound financial policies will be better able to adjust to the global 
market than an economy that is closed and hobbled by financial 
favoritism.

What is more, we have seen that those nations that give their people the 
greatest say in political decisions have had the greatest success in 
preserving stability. The region's democracies have shown us they have 
flexibility built in to their system. Their leaders have been able to 
point to a popular mandate to carry out tough policies. And their people 
have had outlets for venting frustration, raising questions and 
proposing new ideas.

Our first responsibility in responding to the crisis is to reaffirm 
first principles. Open markets work. Open societies are resilient and 
just. And together they offer the best hope for lifting people's lives.

Building on these principles, there are specific steps that we all can 
take to restore confidence and stability to the region's economies. 

The international community, of course, has both a self interest and a 
responsibility to help. Every nation that has a trading relationship 
with this region is affected by the crisis. In the United States, 
millions of jobs depend on exports to Asia; our companies have over $130 
billion in direct investment at stake. Our economic growth has already 
slowed because of the Asian downturn.

America's policy is clear. We call for reform, but we will also do all 
we can to help countries that are being hurt by the crisis and that are 
committed to reform. 

Our commitment is manifested in the significant resources we have 
supported in loans for the IMF and World Bank to this region. We believe 
these financial institutions have been flexible in adjusting their 
response to meet basic human needs. 

We strongly support the mandate our finance ministers have given them to 
help strengthen the social safety net in the countries most hurt by the 
crisis. I am pleased that with our support and that of other donors, the 
World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have funded major programs to 
support social safety net programs and provide scholarships for poor 
students, grants for schools, and job creation programs.

The United States has also done its best to help see that the urgent 
humanitarian needs of people in this region are met. For Indonesia, we 
have committed $75 million in food aid, $26 million for medical 
supplies, and $25 million in loan guarantees to create jobs -- in 
addition to continuing assistance programs worth $550 million. A week 
ago, our government purchased $250 million in wheat, much of which we 
will donate to the Indonesian people. In other countries in the region, 
we are providing medical supplies and funds to keep students in school.

Official assistance can help countries in this region get through the 
worst days of the economic crisis. But we also have to recognize that it 
is not going to solve the deeper, long-term problems they face. The 
crisis is not going to be resolved by aid alone.

One thing aid cannot do is to make up for the billions of dollars in new 
private investment Asian economies are losing. Clearly, one of the keys 
to recovery is to attract long-term committed capital back to this 
region. 

Foreign direct investment offers many tangible benefits. It provides 
more jobs with higher wages; it makes possible advances in technology 
and productivity; it spurs exports and foreign exchange earnings. It is 
needed to recapitalize banks and to restructure companies in distress. 
It makes economies more stable -- after all, people who own factories do 
not usually abandon their investments and fly home at the first sign of 
trouble.

The United States is ready to work with its partners in this region to 
encourage renewed direct investment in their economies, including 
through negotiation of bilateral investment treaties. We hope that they, 
too, will do what is necessary to encourage investor confidence.

This requires guarantees that ensure foreign investors will be treated 
like domestic investors, that permit unfettered financial transfers, and 
that allow access to international arbitration. In this respect, we hope 
those ASEAN members that have not already done so will accelerate their 
commitment to sign, ratify and implement the international conventions 
on arbitration, including the New York and Washington Conventions.

Restoring investor confidence also requires that we work closely with 
the business community. Business already plays a positive role in the 
US-ASEAN dialogue. Private sector assistance could be especially 
valuable in developing deep and liquid long-term debt markets, in 
improving the efficiency of equity markets, and in introducing new 
financial instruments.

But perhaps the most important ingredient in restoring investor 
confidence is transparency. 

Transparency is a word that has taken on many related meanings nowadays. 


It stands for the principle that governments and businesses should keep 
their books open, so investors have the information they need to make 
responsible decisions.

It describes a state of affairs in which people are free to exchange 
information and ideas and decision makers are kept accountable by an 
informed public.

Most important, it expresses an expectation that in a climate of 
openness, economic decisions will be shaped by market forces, and not 
distorted by corruption. This is an issue we all have to talk about 
openly. For in a sense, the first requirement of transparency is that we 
have an honest discussion about transparency.

Fortunately, the movement toward greater transparency in the 
Asia-Pacific region is very much under way. This year, APEC finance 
ministers launched an initiative, led by Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister 
Anwar, to improve governance in the corporate sector. APEC has also been 
active in improving transparency in procurement. The Pacific Basin 
Economic Council has issued an anti-corruption charter that proposes 
standards all of us should embrace. Several non-OECD countries have 
signed the OECD Convention that criminalizes the bribery of foreign 
government officials. We hope all our partners in this region will do 
the same -- and that all signatories will move quickly to ratify the 
Convention and to enact the necessary domestic legislation.

We strongly encourage ASEAN-led initiatives to improve transparency and 
good governance. They would give an enormous boost to this region and to 
our effort to restore confidence in its future.

Of course, another key to recovery is to resume export led growth. 

That is why frankly, I believe that the most important contribution the 
United States is making to East Asia's recovery is the one too often 
taken for granted. We are continuing policies at home designed to keep 
our economy growing. We are selling to the world, but we are also buying 
the exports that can help lead this region back to prosperity and 
growth. Our imports from ASEAN countries have already increased by 5% 
this year.

We count on other industrialized nations to do the same -- and we 
believe that no nation has a bigger contribution to make than Japan. We 
hope that Japan will continue to move in the direction of policies that 
stimulate domestic demand, restructure its banking sector, and reduce 
regulation of the economy. 

In addition to keeping our markets open, the United States will do its 
part to stimulate trade with our partners in this region. Our 
Export-Import Bank is working now with Indonesia and Thailand to 
finalize credit facilities of up to $1 billion for each country. Our 
Department of Agriculture has made more than $1 billion in credits 
available to ASEAN countries to spur agricultural sales. We encourage 
other nations to develop similar trade financing programs with ASEAN.

We also count on nations in this region to keep their markets open, to 
avoid raising tariffs and barriers, and to maintain their commitment to 
liberal trade. 

One of this year's most important developments in APEC was the decision 
to implement Early Voluntary Sectoral Liberalization, which will spur 
trade in areas such as forestry and financial services, and bring us 
closer to our goal of free and open trade in the Asia-Pacific region. We 
have to follow through on that commitment. We also hope our partners 
will implement the ASEAN Free Trade Area in a manner that is consistent 
with their WTO obligations.

I recognize that many of the steps I have outlined will be difficult. 
The problems this region and its partners face have no easy fixes. We 
should have no illusions that recovery is around the corner.

But I can say that the United States has great confidence that in time 
the nations of this region will return to growth. You have talented 
people, vast natural resources, modern infrastructure, and a tremendous 
record of achievement on which to build. You have peace and a commitment 
to regional cooperation. And you have partners with an enormous stake in 
your success. 

We will not let you or ourselves down. We will work hard together, in 
these painful days, to build the basis for more stable and enduring 
prosperity in the years ahead.

But let me also suggest that one of our biggest challenges in this 
difficult time will be to remember that economic recovery is not the 
only challenge we face.

For the last few years, we have begun in this forum to discuss a range 
of transnational threats that are only going to be addressed if we act 
together. There is a real danger now that the financial crisis will 
divert our attention from challenges like sustainable forestry, drugs 
and crime. There is also a danger that the financial crisis will make 
these problems worse.

It is certain that economic desperation will drive more people across 
our borders in search of a better life, and that it will lead to more 
exploitation of women and children. The economic downturn will 
undoubtedly make economies in drug producing nations even more dependent 
on narcotics exports. It is quite possible that more forests will now be 
felled and burned to produce timber and palm oil and other agricultural 
products for export. 

We must continue to address these issues together. For unless we think 
our people can hold their breath until growth resumes, we have to act 
together now against haze and pollution. Unless we think that the 
criminals who traffic in drugs and people are willing to go on holiday 
while we wait for recovery, we have to maintain our focus on defeating 
them. 

The United States would like to propose a number of endeavors to 
strengthen our cooperation in these areas.

Cooperation on the environment is especially important in the wake of 
the forest fires that devastated this region and contributed to the 
global problems of climate change and species loss. Those fires were 
fanned by El Nino. But they were caused by people clearing forests for 
agriculture. And they were made possible by the absence of strong 
environmental standards, and by a lack of enforcement of those standards 
that do exist.

The United States was proud to stand with our friends in the region in 
the effort to extinguish the forest fires. But preventing fires is 
ultimately far more effective than putting them out. And that requires 
getting at the underlying causes of the problem.

America's Southeast Asian Environmental Initiative is designed to help 
do just that. We have asked our Congress to continue funding the program 
for the coming year. We are actively soliciting participation by other 
donors. And we look forward to continued close coordination with the 
ASEAN Regional Haze Action Plan. 

Another environmental challenge that calls for new thinking and new 
resolve on the part of all our nations is the challenge of averting 
global climate change. 

We took an essential step in Kyoto. There, for the first time, 
industrialized nations, including the United States and Japan, agreed to 
mandatory emissions targets. This is appropriate, because if we are to 
slow global warming, the wealthiest nations must show the way.

But it is also essential to understand that we will not find a solution 
without the participation of developing countries, whose emissions will 
surpass those of the developed world within the next 30 years.

The United States would also like to expand our cooperation with ASEAN 
in the fight against narcotics. 

This will require sharing information and expertise, helping each other 
to interdict drugs at our borders and ports, and strengthening our rules 
against money laundering. We are prepared to assist ASEAN in specific 
project activities in all these areas. 

To this end, we hope ASEAN will consider enlarging participation in its 
upcoming Senior Officials on Drugs meeting to include the United States 
and other countries. We are also pleased that we have agreed with 
Thailand to establish an international law enforcement academy in 
Bangkok.

But we should also remember that our multilateral cooperation is 
unlikely to succeed if we are not also prepared to urge change in 
countries where change is clearly needed. For example, there is no 
getting around the fact that many of the region's leading traffickers 
have found safe haven in Burma, that they are still permitted there to 
keep what they value most -- their money and their freedom. This is a 
problem that affects us all and we need to discuss it openly.

Another problem that calls for increased cooperation among our countries 
is migration, especially trafficking in women and girls. 

In the United States, we have seen cases of trafficking for forced 
prostitution, sweat shop labor and domestic servitude. In this region, 
thousands of young women are lured into a condition that can only be 
described as sexual slavery. For many, this experience is not just a 
temporary tragedy. The majority of Burmese women and girls forced to 
work in Thailand, for example, will get AIDS. Most will die before they 
even have a chance to know adulthood.

Addressing this problem will not be easy. It will require changing 
attitudes and perceptions, which is something that governments cannot do 
alone. But as governments, we do have a responsibility to police our 
borders and enforce our laws. And it is a simple fact that no human 
being is ever trafficked across our frontiers without at some point 
coming into contact with immigration officials and police.

That is why, in conjunction with ASEAN and the UN, the United States has 
agreed to help train NGOs and law enforcement officials in areas such as 
witness protection, illegal visa processing, and victim services. We 
will fund programs to educate women and girls about the risks they face. 


That is why we are so enthusiastic in our support of the proposed 
international conference on migration scheduled to occur in Thailand 
next year -- as described by Foreign Minister Surin yesterday. I hope 
that the subject of trafficking comes up and that strong measures of 
cooperation and enforcement are adopted.

I am also pleased to announce that the State Department has just 
contributed $100,000 to the International Organization for Migration for 
its Mekong Region return project. Since 1996, this project has already 
helped 362 women and children return home from Thailand to Cambodia, 
China, Vietnam, Laos and Burma.

I hope this is just a beginning, that working together we can make real 
progress in combating this cruel practice, and in meeting the other 
challenges I have outlined.

In each case, our efforts can help meet a basic human need. But they can 
also help us build the kind of societies that can sustain prosperity in 
the long run, and in which the benefits of prosperity are broadly 
shared.

That is a goal worth every measure of our common effort in the months 
and years ahead. My nation is dedicated, and I am determined, to help 
achieve it with our friends and partners in this region.


[End of Document]