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NEWS - New forum to boost Asia Pac



Subject: NEWS -  New forum to boost Asia Pacific trade 

New forum to boost Asia Pacific trade 

                 By P. S. Suryanarayana 

                 SINGAPORE, NOV. 21. A new regional forum called the
Asia Pacific Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry
                 (APICCI) has been launched in Singapore. Its
founder-members from nine countries, including India - all
                 organisations designed to promote the interests of
business enterprises, adopted a constitution after signing a
                 memorandum of understanding for the establishment of
APICCI at a function here over the week-end. 

                 Mr. D. D. Gupta, the Chairman of the Singapore Indian
Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI), was chosen
                 the APICCI's first president, while Mr. George Abraham,
also of SICCI, became the first secretary general of the
                 new Asia Pacific outfit. The APICCI's permanent
secretariat will be located in Singapore, and each member country
                 will nominate a vice president. 

                 Besides the SICCI, the founding members are the
Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
                 (FICCI), the Indian Chamber of Commerce-Hong Kong, the
Malaysian Associated Indian Chamber of Commerce
                 and Industry, the Indian Chamber of Commerce- Japan,
the Filipino-Indian Chamber of Commerce, the Economic
                 Association of Indonesia and India, the Myanmar India
Business Club and the Indian Merchants' Association-Korea.
                 Indonesia's Gandhi Seva Loka is also associated with
the APICCI, albeit in conjunction with the primary member
                 from that country. A business association from Thailand
is expected to join the APICCI soon. 

                 Launching the APICCI's logo and delivering a keynote
address at the function organised under the SICCI auspices
                 for the establishment of this Asia Pacific grouping,
the Singapore Minister for Trade and Industry, Mr. George Yeo,
                 said that networks such as the APICCI ``have enabled
Indians to occupy strong international positions in traditional
                 areas like textiles, diamonds and spices, both retail
and wholesale (trade).'' 

                 According to the Minister, such groupings as the APICCI
could provide ``a certain amount of group insurance'' to
                 those involved. Drawing the parallel of a web for the
linkages among the ethnic Indian business communities
                 across the world, the Minister said that ``they were
hyperlinked long before there was the Internet.'' 

                 Outlining the salient features of the new forum, Mr.
George Abraham, the APICCI secretary general, told TheHindu
                 here today that the substantive buzz words would be the
``networking'' of the activities of the members and the
                 ``regionalisation'' of their business opportunities. He
said the APICCI, which would serve as a common forum for the
                 ethnic Indian entrepreneurs of the Asia Pacific region,
was simply ``not an NRI (Non-Resident Indians') body.'' 

                 Bringing together the Indian-origin
citizen-entrepreneurs of various countries, the APICCI would, of course,
work in
                 a manner designed to cut across the racial frontiers in
each of these and other States. Each APICCI
                 member-organisation would serve as a nodal agency in
its native country for the business interests of all other
                 members, he explained. The APICCI activities were
likely to cover the ``inward (business) missions'' to specific
                 countries concerned as also the ``joint action'' by all
members for mutual benefit. An APICCI web site was now
                 being activated. 

                 According to Mr. Abraham, the India-specific focus,
insofar as it might be a factor at work, would be an effort to
                 facilitate the entry of capable Indian firms onto the
wider regional stage and their networking thereof. In this sense,
                 the objective in launchig the APICCI was to go beyond
the promotion of foreign investment flows into India, he
                 noted.