Asean Chief Paints Region as Safe Haven
JAKARTA--Investors and companies should look to Southeast Asia as they seek shelter from the world-wide markets meltdown, said the secretary general of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.</br></br>Surin Pitsuwan noted that Southeast Asia is growing, it is nestled between India and China and it dealt with its own scary debt problems over a decade ago, making it an attractive alternative amid the global volatility triggered by concerns about how the U.S. and Europe will deal with their debt, as well as whether the U.S. economy will slide into recession again.</br></br>"If they are looking for a safer haven, this is it," he told The Wall Street Journal in an interview. "The Chinese and the Japanese that are worried will want to look around for better prospects for their investments and this is one of the hopeful regions."</br></br>Foreign direct investment into the region jumped 38% to $75.8 billion last year, he said, much of it into the service sector as international corporations are rushing into the region to target its growing middle class.</br></br>Asean's economic ministers are meeting this week in Indonesia in a scheduled summit to discuss further economic integration of the 10 members: Singapore, Indonesia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Malaysia, Laos, The Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Brunei.