Asean Mitigates Flood Impact Through Close Cooperation, Says M'sian Minister

By Jamaluddin Muhammad BANGKOK (Thailand), June 1 (Bernama) -- Asean has managed to mitigate the impact of last year's Thai flood on its supply chain through close cooperation among member countries. Malaysian Minister of International Trade and Industry, Mustapa Mohamed, said Malaysia, for example, has increased its production to meet the shortage of goods experienced by Thailand during the flood. "The implementation of zero tariff, removal of trade barriers and simplifying Customs procedures as the region moved towards a single production base by 2015 have facilitated the movement of supplies from Malaysia to Thailand during the crisis," he told the World Economic Forum on East Asia here Thursday. Mustapa said this at a session on the 'Chain Reaction: Supplying Asia's Growth'. He said the management of the whole eco-system of the supply chain needed to be looked into as any shortcoming could derail the whole plan. "Close proximity has played a role too in mitigating the impact," he said. Thailand experienced the worst flood in five decades last year when one-third of the country was inundated with some areas for more than three months, which adversely affected its economic growth in the last quarter. Asean chief executive officer (CEO) of General Electric, Stuart Dean, said back-up supplies plan was important in managing the distruption of supply chain due to the flood. He said his company has sourced components from all over the world thus reducing its dependence on certain countries only should they experience natural disasters. On the rising wages in Asia, he said low wage was not the most important factor for investors as they took into account the capabilities of the workforce. CEO/president of US-based Brightstar, Marcelo Claure, said productivity, good infrastructure and highly-skilled labour force was more important than the low-cost labour factor. -- BERNAMA