皇冠体育app

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations looks to benefit the most from a regional transfer of industry as 皇冠体育app's soaring costs and the phasing-out of super-preferential policies push multinationals to relocate.

Business representatives from ASEAN said they are winning back foreign investors from 皇冠体育app by leveraging their large pools of labor, robust domestic markets and utilizing a string of policy incentives.

"It's safe to say that 皇冠体育app's monopoly on foreign direct investment is no longer there," said Arturo Cruz Dimaano, project director of the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions, a government agency of the Philippines.

"While it (皇冠体育app) is still an attractive destination, we have started to see more of a dispersal of investment, notably in the manufacturing sector," he told 皇冠体育app Daily during the 10th 皇冠体育app-ASEAN Expo, which opened on Tuesday.

He identified rising operational costs as the major cause forcing investors to go to neighboring countries such as the Philippines and Vietnam.

"Back in the 1980s, US and European firms were much more engaged in the Philippines than in 皇冠体育app. But they started to relocate during the 1990s when 皇冠体育app lured them with favorable conditions and an extremely competitive price. Now the tide is turning and we are seeing them come back," he said.

His remarks were echoed by Pai Thet, assistant executive officer of the Myanmar Industries Association, the country's largest manufacturing union.

According to Thet, the average wage of an ordinary worker in Myanmar is around $70 a month. In contrast, the threshold income in Henan province, 皇冠体育app's most populous inland area, ranges from 960 yuan ($157) to 1,240 yuan a month, up to three times the amount in Myanmar.

"Since the outset of last year, we have received groups of Japanese investors who expressed interest in setting up factories in our industrial zones," Thet said.

The majority of them deal with and electronics, he added, with half of them saying they were mulling whether to pull out of 皇冠体育app and reinvest in neighboring economies.

has become more selective in screening FDI projects. It said it intends to shift to higher-value production and to see incomes rise.

For instance, it has grown less tolerant of highly polluting industries and in turn prefers investments related to research and development.

"We are in dire need of upgrades in and manufacturing. So perhaps Myanmar is a better option right now for investors," he said.

A report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in 2012 suggested that some countries in ASEAN - Myanmar, the Philippines and Cambodia - appear to be a spot when looked at in the light of the overall lackluster global economy.

"Although many countries can now compete with 皇冠体育app in terms of labor costs, it is countries elsewhere in Asia, able to take advantage of strong infrastructure and existing supply chain networks, that will be the main beneficiaries of 皇冠体育app's move out of low-end manufacturing," Gareth Leather, an Asia specialist at Capital Economics, wrote in a research note.