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GCC Investors Urged to Focus on Food

DUBAI — The finance ministers of the 10-nation grouping, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), urged 160 investors from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to invest in the region to make it their food basket, amid global concerns of food security.

The ministers were in Dubai to attend the 5^th Asean Finance Ministers Investor Seminar, which ended on Wednesday.

Asean comprises the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos.

The Asean member-countries, with a combined population of 570 million, are urging the GCC to invest in food production, food processing and food distribution, instead of being simply at the receiving end.

Dr Surin Pitsuwan, Asean Secretary-General, said the region is a production base for food, including rice, bean, soya bean, fisheries and other staple crops.

“If the GCC invests in the Asean, it will be holding the gate to the Pacific, Australia and New Zealand. Opportunities for them in the region are limitless,” he pointed out.

In promoting Asean potential among GCC countries, Dr Pitsuwan declared: “You cannot go wrong with producing food, as population grows. It is always the best track for investments.”

“We are very careful in diverting food grains with alternative energy. Even the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WB) have told the Asean to be serious with food security issues as it may be similar to the oil crisis of the seventies. We’ have got to be prepared to help the world if it comes,” he said. According to him, Asean entered into an understanding with GCC in Riyadh, KSA, recently to closely monitor international cooperation in food security, agriculture, health, energy, opportunities and industries.

He said the region may be losing its traditional financial markets because of the current global financial crisis, but it won’t, in any way, slow down the economy of its 10 member-countries.

The Asean ministers also assured the investors that the global financial crisis would not affect them as it did in America and Europe, claiming that their ‘banking industry is very sound.’

Speaking for the region, Tharman Shanmugaratnam of Singapore, said the Southeast Asian countries felt that the Asian crisis in late 90s had made their governments introduce drastic reforms, particularly in banking and finance. “After over 10 years, we are in a position to consolidate ourselves and negotiate with those in GCC looking for partnership and to synergise with the dynamism of our economies,” he added. He said the Asian crisis had taught them many lessons. “We do not think we need some kind of a mechanism to shield us from the global crisis. Our banking system is perfectly sound and we do not have any financial crisis now.”

lily@khaleejtimes.com