PACIFIC BASIN ECONOMIC COUNCIL
MAIN PAGE | SPEECHES & EDITORIALS | 2000 | REMARKS TO THE PBEC-ASEAN BREAKFAST

Remarks to the PBEC-ASEAN Breakfast Ernest S. Micek Chairman, Cargill, Incorporated March 20, 2000 Honolulu, Hawaii Thanks Gary for that kind introduction. And good morning. It's a pleasure to be here. As you heard, Cargill is a global company with about 82,000 people working around the world. Of those, nearly 11,000 people are working in 14 countries in Asia. And six of those countries are ASEAN members: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. So I have some common ground with many of you here today. Our vision at Cargill is to raise living standards around the world by delivering increased value to producers and consumers. We're firm believers that one of the best ways to do that is to improve the efficiency and productivity of the agricultural sector. I'm going to talk about that tomorrow at the PBEC meeting. So I won't discuss it here. I would like to talk about three things that I think are important as we begin this week of the PBEC International General Meeting. The first is the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation organization or APEC, second is the APEC Business Advisory Council and third is the passage by the U.S. Congress of permanent normal trade relations for China. But before I begin, I would like to give you a quick glimpse of what kind of work we do in the region. In Indonesia, Cargill operates P.T. Hindoli, a 27,000-hectare palm plantation on the island of Sumatra. It helps provide a livelihood for more than 8,500 Indonesian families, including farmers we buy from. In addition, Cargill runs four feed mills and a coffee warehouse and trades in such commodities as feed grains and cocoa. In Malaysia, we process oilseeds and produce animal feed for poultry and livestock. In the Philippines, we originate copra, operate a feed mill, and trade in protein meal and other commodities. In Singapore, we have our regional headquarters. In Thailand, we have four feed mills, a fertilizer bulk blending facility and we trade in sugar, rice, tapioca, feed grains and other commodities. We also operate a chicken processing plant in Saraburi that employs about 4,000 people. We export a lot of these chicken products to Japan and the European Union. And in Vietnam, we operate feed mills, a chicken hatchery and breeder farm, export products such as coffee, rice and rubber and import meat, salt, sugar, malt and feed ingredients. That's the quick tour. First, let me begin by saying a few words about APEC. APEC does have significant strengths, although it's not perfect. It's a little unwieldy, both because it operates on consensus and because it has a proliferation of working groups, seminars, and ministerial meetings that appear confusing. But if we didn't have APEC, I suspect that whenever we gathered for meetings like this one, we'd be talking about creating something similar. It brings together leaders every year. It has a clear cut vision for liberalization -- 2010 for developed countries and 2020 for developing ones. And it has developed a roadmap for economic and technical cooperation. While APEC isn't perfect, we shouldn't let the perfect become the enemy of the good. I think all businesses and all organizations around the Pacific Rim, from chambers of commerce to PBEC . . . and from environmental organizations to ASEAN, should concentrate on making APEC live up to its potential and fulfill its vision. Whether you like the details of how it operates or not, APEC is the path that our governments on the Pacific Rim have chosen to build regional prosperity in an equitable manner. We have to help make it work. And I think we need to tackle the task with a sense of urgency - given the current disarray surrounding the World Trade Organization. APEC can play an important role in helping the WTO get back on track and can serve as a catalyst to speed up the pace of international negotiations. Second, let me say a few things about the APEC Business Advisory Council. I was just appointed and attended my first meeting last month -- in Bangkok. It was well worth the while. Although I'm a newcomer, I think APEC takes our recommendations seriously . . . and that these recommendations carry weight with the governments of member countries. ABAC is focusing on two things. First, is making recommendations that are realistic and have bottom line impact. Second, is that it hopes to address anxieties about the effects of globalization and liberalization by explaining that increasing trade liberalization can create both prosperity and broaden access to that prosperity. That's important. We must get the message across that prosperity can reach all segments of our societies if governments prepare properly. This message is consistent with the work Carole Brookins is doing with RISE. That stands for Regional Integration for Sustainable Economies. The whole idea to extend markets beyond urban areas. Our theme is "Facing Globalization the APEC Way." I won't go into all the recommendations ABAC is working on, but I'd like to mention a few just to give you a flavor: We're urging the transportation ministers to start plurilateral negotiations on the upgrade in air services that APEC agreed to at the Auckland meeting last year. Traditionally, air services agreements have been bilateral, but that would mean having to negotiate literally hundreds of separate agreement among the APEC economies. There is no reason to stick with tradition. We are talking to APEC about wide and immediate use of an e-commerce readiness assessment guide that IBM and others in the business community helped APEC put together to determine exactly what economies need to do to make themselves competitive. Several economies, including the U.S., are already using the guide. It is increasingly becoming apparent to the U.S. government and many in the business community that the ability to use e-commerce will be absolutely key to maximizing the benefits of liberalized trade. This is a point we will put a lot of emphasis on. Realizing that the knowledge base within the financial sector is thin in many economies, we want APEC to "benchmark" best practices and use Internet interactive training to spread these best practices around the region as quickly as possible. (The lack of knowledge probably added to the depth of the recent Asian financial crisis.) We're planning a sustained effort to make APEC's individual action plans -- the annual documents that outline the steps each economy is taking to meet the 2010/2020 goals -- accessible and relevant to businesses. This one is not easy, but if we can make governments explain in exact and transparent terms what they plan to do in these rolling two- to five- year plans, then we will create an excellent regional business tool. I hope that business representatives, like those that join PBEC, will increasingly become involved in helping ABAC transmit the business agenda to the APEC leaders. Finally, I would like to briefly mention the upcoming vote in the U.S. Congress on Permanent Normal Trade Relations for China. Last week I was at an ECAT meeting - that's the Emergency Committee for American Trade. Commerce Secretary William Daley was there. He said President Clinton is spending "more time on this issue than anyone else in public life." He's been having members of Congress over to dinner at the White House. But it's not going to be easy to round up the necessary votes in the House. So if we're going to get Permanent Normal Trade Relations for China, the business community really needs to show up and work to help make it happen. That's the message I got. And my hope is that we can work together with some of you here today. Thank you very much.