ABSTRACT
The role of the private sector must be kept in mind. Governments that discuss the framework for cooperation must recognize that businessmen are the ones who are going to decide whether or not a deal is in their best interest. There has been a tremendous shift in the industrial structure of the ASEAN countries. The combined GDP in 1960 was 40 percent agricultural, 20 percent industrial, and 40 percent service. In 1980, the service sector accounted for 40 percent of GDP, but the figure for agriculture was 23 percent and for industry 37 percent, a near reversal. The fastest growing imports for ASEAN will be machinery and equipment, progressively more of the high tech variety. Such capital imports can be supplied by developed countries in the region, evidence that complementarity exists. Multinational corporations are conduits for the transfer of technology. They have considerable investments in mineral sectors of the economy.
