Karin Ek

I just returned from an interesting speech by Secretary General of ASEAN, Dr. Sirun Pitsuwan. (Minister of Foreign Affairs in Thailand, 1997-2001.)

The ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) charter is a living document. It has the potential to offer the region increasing momentum by boosting trade and reinforcing economic cooperation. The association’s motto is; “One Vision, One Identity, One Community. Ten countries, One identity”

It is not an easy task to try to unite these ten very heterogeneous countries, most of which are still classified as developing. Dr. Pitsuwan asks us to treat them as one region for the benefit of all parties; “Then we will be forced to behave as a region and can contribute back as a region”.

Can ASEAN play a leading role as one common organisation in the regional architecture? Can ASEAN cope with political, economic, pandemic and natural disaster issues alike? The Secretary General’s answer is, YES.

Dr. Pitsuwan is a man with a great challenge ahead of him, but he has put his goal for his four year mandate very simply. To make “ASEAN” a household name to all of its 592 million people. “I am a Thai and an ASEAN too.”


EU – ASEAN trade in short
Considering ASEAN as a single trading entity would give it a 4.7% share of the EU’s total external trade and puts it in 6th place. The trade has been growing steadily over the past five years with an average annual growth rate of 11.3%. The EU is ASEAN’s first overall trading partner with 12.3%, ahead of the United States, Japan and China.

We just returned to Singapore from Sweden where record low temperatures are being recorded. There was a difference of 50 degrees between take-off and landing.

Holiday is over and on the 2nd day of school my daughter is crying for her fleece sweater. I tell her; “We didn’t bring any fleece sweaters. We live on the equator and don’t need fleece sweaters here.” She answers; “My new seat in class is next to the aircon and I am freezing. I must have my sweater!”

She’s not the only one that is freezing in school, in shopping malls, in offices and not to mention the movie theatres. Among expats this is a common topic of discussion. Why is the aircon temperature turned on so low? It must cost a fortune and is it really environmental friendly?

A friend in Japan told me that a few years ago a Japanese authority had decided that all public buildings should increase the temperature to a higher level during summer and at the same time the office dress-code was allowed more casual.

This makes sense to me. But until more people agree I urgently need to go out shopping a fleece sweater for my daughter.

When talking about Trade Finance and International Trade it all sounds so big and grand. My friend Mr M is a truly International Business Man but in the small world.

Mr M lives on a small island in the Southern Hemisphere. When driving to Mr M’s factory we are surrounded by sugar cane fields. It is hot and humid, the mud road is dusty and has big pot holes that the taxi driver tries to avoid. The factory is a narrow four storey building standing on its own, wanting for a coat of paint. From the top floor iron rods stick out, ready for an additional floor.

I knock on the front door of the factory. The stray dogs bark but are too lazy to acknowledge me any further. The door is opened by Uncle, an elderly man who is the factory’s handyman. He shows me to the next room which is Mr M’s office. It has a basic wooden desk and a visitor’s chair. Hanging on the wall is our company calendar showing a winter scenery from the North. The fan on Mr M’s table is on full speed and the papers on his desk need to be held down by stones.

Mr M manufactures paper bags. Small bags that are used for candy and postcards. Many years ago Mr M bought an old converting machine. In one end you but the big reel of paper, the machine folds the paper in three, automatically glues it and cuts the “paper tube” in varying lengths depending on the size of the bag. At the end of the line a lady stacks the pieces and then brings them over to the table beside for finishing. The end of each tube is folded, glued by hand and – voilà - the bag is ready.

Mr M wants to buy paper for his bags. He doesn’t talk about tear index, gloss, runability or Bekk values. He simply wants strong paper and his customers want the bags white and shiny. He knows that paper from Scandinavia is good but he it is very expensive and he shakes his head. Once he bought low quality paper. It was at a bargain price but it broke on the machine and had little black spots. We negotiate and reach an agreement. When the deal is closed Uncle serves freshly squeezed fruit juice that we drink with a straw.

The paper business is not as good as it used to be on the island. It is facing competition from cheaper plastic bags. Mr M tells me that he has recently expanded and diversified his business. He wants to show me the rest of the factory. I walk towards the elevator but Mr M says that it broke many years ago and is now only used for storage. We walk up the narrow wooden staircase.

On the second floor is Mr M’s new textile department. He has invested in three second hand sewing machines. Mr M has become a subcontractor to an international very prestigious brand of underwear. There are big bundles of brightly coloured fabric, rolls of elastic with the brand name, stacks of half-made and finished pieces of underwear. At the end of the room manual quality control is done before the underwear can leave the factory.

We continue our tour to the third floor where it smells of food. There is a big stove in the middle and a lady is stirring something in a large pot. Mr M tells me that he is now also in the agriculture and food business. He has bought a piece of land on a neighbouring island where he grows ecological peanuts. He and his brother take turns to go there and spend months at a time to oversee the fields.

The home grown peanuts are shipped back to his own island where the ladies on the third floor manually sort, clean and then cook peanut butter on the big stove. They package it in small plastic containers and seal them in the latest investment – a state-of-the-art vacuum sealing machine that Mr M proudly shows me. Ecological peanut butter for export to the International Market.

While telling Mr M how impressed I am of his international business operation, I try to avoid looking at the birds that are having a feast on the peanuts in the big open baskets by the window.