 
 
April / May2001 CACCI COUNCIL MEETING IN BATAM Confederation of Asia Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry (CACCI), the apex body of the National Federations/Chambers of Countries of the Asia-Pacific Region has announced that Megawati Sukarnoputri, Vice President of Indonesia will open the 63rd CACCI Council Meeting and Business Forum in Batam Island, Indonesia on 14 May 2001. The Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FNCCI) from Nepal is one of the primary member of CACCI. Indonesian Vice President Megawati will deliver the keynote address. The President of the Asian Development Bank is scheduled to speak on "Closer Economic Cooperation among CACCI Member Countries". Along with various programmes panel discussions on "Sub-Regional Economic Cooperation: a Case Study of the Successful IMS-GT (Indonesia-Malaysia-Singapore-Growth Triangle)" and on "Sustainability of the Asian Economic Recovery" will be organised during the Business Forum Meeting. On top of the regular meetings panel discussions, one-on-one Business Meetings will also be organised among the participants so that greater business linkages among the participants. The 60th Council Meeting of CACCI was held in Kathmandu in May 2000. CACCI has invited business leaders from the region to participate in its Council Meeting and Business Forum for better networking of cooperation and business promotion among the countries of the region. FNCCI is coordinating with CACCI and its website in the Trade and Investment information Network with countries of Asia Pacific Region. FNCCI disseminates CACCI business information and services to the Nepalese business through the Business Assistance Centre, which is working in the support from CACCI. The CACCI has come up with life time membership scheme for prominent businessmen and company from its member countries. The FNCCI is coordinating with CACCI Secretariat for such membership among the Nepalese businessmen. Information regarding CACCI activities, participation in CACCI meeting and CACCI membership can be availed from FNCCI Secretariat. CHINA'S PRIVATE ECONOMY GREW 40% China's private economy grew by nearly 40 percent last year with new private companies providing some 4.6 million jobs in 2000, state media reported recently. By the end of last year, China had 1.7 million registered private companies employing 24 million people with registered assists of 1.33 trillion Yuan (160 billion dollars), the China Business Times reported, citing a report issued from the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce (ACFIC). The growth has been sharpest since 1998 when China amended its Marxist constitution and began recognizing the private economy as an "important component" of the overall economy, the paper said. CHINA TO GROW BY 7.8% IN 2001 China's economic growth this year should come in at between seven and eight percent as the government looks to maintain economic growth by raising incomes and stimulating consumption, officials said recently. "In the coming new year, we will continue to carry out a proactive fiscal policy and a robust monetary policy, widely enhancing fiscal supports, Zhu Zhixin, commissioner of the National Statistics Bureau said. "As far as I know the growth will not be lower than the previous year", he said. China's economy grew by 8.2 percent in the first three quarters of 2000 but slumped to a 7.3 year on year in the fourth quarter for a rise over the full year of eight percent. "The main reason the GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2000 was lower than 8.2 percent or roughly around seven percent, was because the base figure in 1999 was high," Zhu said. To maintain a high growth rate this year, the government will continue to stimulate the economy through fiscal measures, while placing a priority on raising personal incomes and boosting consumption, he said. "The bureau's growth target for 2001 will be between seven and eight percent", NSB vice commissioner Ye Zhen said. CHINA BUILDS LARGEST HERBAL The first phase of Asia's largest plant for extracting and processing traditional herbal medicine was completed in Wuhu Bio-medical Science and Technology Garden in east China's Anhui province. Covering 3 square km., the project is the third largest in the world. The construction of the second phase of the project will begin soon. A Chinese company spent 1 billion yuan (about 120 million US dollars) introducing a production line from Germany to extract essence from natural herbs in large quantities with super critical hydro-sulphur dioxide. This technology represents the latest trend in the development of life sciences and is very important to industrialised the traditional herbal medicine. STRUCTURAL REFORMS CALLED FOR IN JAPAN Japan's government is greeting the new financial year with a raft of regulatory changes that analysts say fall well short of the deep-seated structural reform needed to revitalize the economy. A new requirement for companies to account for their assets at current market value, rather than purchase price, represents the only hard-hitting measure among the changes, according to observers. It will belatedly bring Japan in line with accounting regimes in other major economies, but risks causing even more trouble for Japanese banks, which sit on vast shareholdings. "The introduction of the new system is very risky for them," said Mitsubishi Research Institute economist Yasuo Goto. "But with the introduction, they are eventually going to have to stand and fight on the same ground as their foreign rivals", he said. JAPAN, EU SIGN PACT ON PRODUCT CERTIFICATION Japan and the European Union have signed an agreement recognizing each other's safety and quality standards for products in four key sectors in an effort to cut costs and increase bilateral trade. "I'm glad we have finally managed to conclude negotiations on an agreement which will contribute significantly to facilitating trade between the EU and Japan," said EU trade commissioner Pascal Lamy in a statement released recently in Tokyo. The mutual recognition agreement (MRA), which was finally signed recently in Brussels after six years of negotiations, covers pharmaceuticals, chemicals, telecommunications devices and electrical appliances. The accord will enable European and Japanese manufacturers to cut up to 400 million euros (360 million dollars) in costs related to ensuring exports conform with the importing country's technical standards, the statement said. SINGAPORE'S ECONOMIC GROWTH SLOWS Economic growth in the wealthy city-state of Singapore is slowing more sharply than analysts had expected, and the government has cut its forecast for growth in 2001 to between 3.5 percent and 5.5 percent. The government had originally forecast growth of 5 percent to 7 percent. The country's economy grew 4.6 percent during the first three months of 2001 over the same quarter a year ago, according to advance estimates released by the government recently. Nine analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires recently forecast an average of 6.1 percent growth for the first quarter. The economy grew by 11 percent in the fourth quarter of 2000. Growth is measured in gross domestic product, the sum of goods and services produced in a country. Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry or MTI said in a recent statement the country's economic outlook has turned "less favorable", mainly due to weaker-than-epected U.S. economic growth and a downturn, in the global electronics industry. Singapore, a tiny country with few natural resources, depends heavily on its high-tech exports. The United States is its largest market. 
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