The Foreign Capital Issue in the Asean Chambers of Commerce and Industry

Abstract

Who controls organizations for regional economic cooperation among developing countries and benefits from their programs? In early groupings such as the East African Community, the Central American Common Market, and the Latin American Free Trade Area (LAFTA), polarization and dependency effects were evident. The more advanced member countries tended to be the leaders and to receive the greatest economic gains from cooperation. The larger, usually foreign-owned, firms with the capital, technology, and marketing resources necessary to undertake region-wide operations were the principal actors in and beneficiaries of private-sector regional plans. Thus, for example, the regional development poles in LAFTA were the three largest countries, Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. LAFTA's program for industrial complementation, in Mytelka's view, was initiated by multinational corporations that dominated the pharmaceutical, electronics, and office machine sectors and signed between multinational corporations, with national governments rubber stamping and implementing the agreements on their behalf. 1 Taking its cues from these experiences, particularly those in Latin America, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) adopted