書き抜き読書ノート 368

2009 年 10 月 1 日

桜井正光著「Strengthening the effectness of ASEAN and JAPAN corporation Toward a new economic growth strategy」
第 35 回 日本アセアン経営者会議、開会の辞(2009 年 10 月 1 日ホーチミン市)を読む
Strengthening the effectness of ASEAN and JAPAN corporation Toward a new economic growth strategy

１．AJBM(ASEAN-JAPAN Business Meeting)has been a platform for business persons in ASEAN and Japan
since it started in 1974 and today we welcome its 35th meeting here in Ho Chi Minh. When we met inBrunei last year, the world economy was rapidly worsening due to the so -called

once in hundred years

financial crisis which stemmed from the United States. Although we are still in the midst of tough economic
circumstances, I am very delighted that we are here to hold this meaningful meeting again.
２．It was ten years ago in November 1999 that AJBM was first hosted by Vietnamese friends. As we allknow, at that time ASEAN economies were in the middle of gradual recovery from the hard hit Asianfinancial crisis in 1997. One of the sessions wascorporate restructuring

including financial corporations,and this tells us that economic recovery was achieved with great pains at that time.
３．It is ironic that we hold AJBM second time in Vietnam in a similar economic situation as in 1999.
However, the damage caused by thisonce in hundred years crisis seems less severe for Vietnam and someother ASEAN countries than in 1997, since they have been steadily making economic growth. I believe that
it is because resilience has been enhanced by ASEAN nations' economic development over the last decade.
４．In fact, ASEAN has achieved remarkable economic growth.
Its GDP reached 1.5 trillion dollars, which is about 3 times larger than that of 10 years ago. Its population
increased 75 million and reached 590 million in total. And the conclusion of ASEAN Charter is the proof that
ASEAN begun its new start as an important stakeholder in the international society.
５．Let me also mention the relations between ASEAN and Japan. Our trade enlarged twice and reached 23.3
billion dollar(2.1 trillion Yen) in the last ten years. Starting with Singapore, Japan made bilateral Economic
Partnership Agreements with Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines. ASEAN-Japan
Comprehensive Economic Partnership was concluded in December last year and except for a few nations,
it has become effective. And it is today that economic partnership agreement between Vietnam and Japan has
just entered into force. I firmly believe that ASEAN-Japan economic relations will be further deepened in thecoming years. However, we should remind ourselves that we are the ones who must take our own initiatives
to invigorate our economy.

-1-６．As it had been over the last decadc, we must find opportunities even in the adversity and make a steadystep toward growth in the coming decade. There is no doubt that our role will become increasingly important.
７．We can find reasons for this if we think about global challenges we face today: restructuring ofinternational financial system, policies to cope with global warming, pandemic such as new influenza,
poverty, development, and infrastructure building in developing countries. For meeting these transnational
challenges, measures taken by governments are no longer sufficient. No one doubts that responsible privatesector cooperation with government and proactive private sector participation are essential.
８．The three sessions we have today are a good reflection of current period.
In the first session,

Global Economy Crisis: Challenges and Solutions for the Business Sector, we needto ask our governments not only immediate economic recovery measures, but also appropriate economic andfinancial policies based on a long-term perspective, and more importantly, we should be initiating our own
actions to solve the problems.
９．In the second session,

A New Economic Model for ASEAN and Japan , we will and should be discussing

new economic growth model that can be the substitute for export-led economic growth model that has
depended on the US and EU markets.
10．In the third session,and Japan

Toward A Meaningful Operation of Bilateral and Multilateral EPAs between ASEAN, we seek to examine measures to enhance co-evolution between ASEAN nations and Japan

including how to make our EPAs more effective. We also need to introduce more concrete rules of trade andinvestment in cooperation with our governments as soon as possible.
11．As these clearly show, an era of asking a government to resolve everything is over. This is the reason that
we business leaders of ASEAN and Japan convene even at the time of economic hardship. We businesspersons have to build cooperative relations with various stakeholders, tackle those global issues as our own
problems, and become the driving force to solve them. And these are the objective that we try to achieve.
12．Let us also not forget that we are responsible for developing our relationship, which our predecessors had
established over the last 35 years, to a higher level which bears fruit to us all.
［コメント］
9 月 30 日から 10 月 2 日までベトナム・ホーチミン市で開かれている第 35 回日本アセアン経営者会議での桜井正光・経済同友会代表幹事の開会の辞。新しい経済成長の展開に向けてどのように日本とアセアンの協力関係を強め効果を上げていくかが語られた。
− 2009 年 10 月 1 日 林明夫記−-2-