CANBERRA, Apr.15 - Speaking at the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) today, ASEAN Secretary-General Rodolfo C. Severino, Jr., called for close partnership between ASEAN and PECC. Severino said that ASEAN and PECC could hold regular consultations on regional issues, exchange results of studies, and work together on certain economic issues. Seven ASEAN members belong to PECC, a tripartite organization comprising business, government, and academic representatives.

In his speech, Severino also expressed confidence that based on the estimates and projections available to the ASEAN Secretariat, ASEAN's economies should begin their recovery this year. He added that ASEAN's actual economic performance will depend on a combination of and the interplay among three sets of factors - the national policies and reform measures that each member state adopts, the strength of the cooperation within ASEAN, and developments elsewhere in the world.

Focusing on ASEAN's efforts to address the economic and financial crisis, Severino informed the PECC that ASEAN has launched the process of regional economic surveillance as an early warning mechanism. He said that the surveillance process aims "to help the ASEAN governments keep track of macroeconomic trends and other economic and social indicators - and of any unusual glitches in them - and thus alert them to any impending problems".

He added that a strong and decisive ASEAN response to the financial crisis has been the acceleration of regional economic integration. At their meeting in Hanoi in December 1998, the ASEAN heads of government decided to move forward the completion of the ASEAN Free Trade Area to 2002 for the six original signatories to the AFTA agreement. They also decided to waive the 30 percent national-equity requirement for investment under the ASEAN Industrial Cooperation scheme for the 1999-2000 period. Furthermore, foreign investments applied for in 1999 or 2000 are to be exempt from the corporate income tax for at least three years or given a corporate investment tax allowance of at least 30 percent.