US firms suggest ASEAN improve financial services
Although US businesses across ASEAN have expressed a positive investment outlook towards Cambodia and the other members of the regional group, they are unsure of how to take advantage of the free-trade agreement with China, insiders said at the first-ever ASEAN-US Business Summit, which kicked off yesterday in Cambodia. While praising the Kingdom and ASEAN in general, the US delegation said that their businesses in the region seem unable to take advantage of all the assets that ASEAN has to offer. US Chamber of Commerce Senior Director of Southeast Asia John Goyer told the Post that much of what was discussed yesterday at a seminar called “Digital Economy and Innovation” concerned the use of e-commerce, digital transactions and credit cards, aspects of the economy that ASEAN’s less-developed countries, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos, do no rate particularly strong. He added that, for all the positive aspects of ASEAN, US businesses were not able to fully utilise everything it had to offer like the free trade agreement (FTA) with China. … The summit was seen as chance to pave the way for interaction between the private sector, ASEAN member countries and the US in order to improve business relations, through discussions on such matters. …
