Asia Pacific Countertrade Association

Our host ARMSCOR, the Armaments Corporation of South Africa Ltd, had intended an event equal to the successes of their industrial participation program and they have achieved it their way.

About 76 delegates, speakers and members of ARMSCOR and the Department of Trade and Industry congregated in the spectacular resort, Sun City of South Africa from 30th August to 2nd September 2000 on the occasion of APCA 2000.

We have Mr Ron Haywood, Mr. Johan van Dyk, Ms Yvette Pretorius, Ms Minah Sindane and their team from ARMSCOR and the various sponsors to thank for organising and supporting yet another successful APCA conference.

We are pleased to bring you this report on APCA 2000.

AN OVERVIEW
The venue Sun City was a treat to those who attended. The splendour of the venue however did not substitute the serious businesses undertaken in APCA 2000.

The more energetic of the delegates took off to the golf course upon arrival. In the evening of 30th August 2000, APCA 2000 began with a poolside buffet at the Cabanas where the delegates were welcomed by ARMSCOR's Chairman Mr, Ron Haywood before the commencement of the following 2 full days of meetings. The first full day meeting ended with a wine-tasting party. Between glasses of exquisite South African whites and reds, contacts continued to be made. The second and final day ended with a safari and an African Boman deep inside the Pilanesberg Games Reserve. The safari brought the delegates within visual range of the animals roaming in their natural habitat and culminated with an African Boman, where delegates experienced first hand African style meetings.

We were driven in total darkness to a wooded circular enclosure, which fenced in the delegates and protected them from the animals. In the centre of the circular enclosure was a bonfire. Inspired by flickering light of the bonfire, discussions continued between bites of crocodile and ostrich meat - only to be broken by a joyous rendition of African song and dance act to mark the end of APCA 2000 by the staff from Sun City accompanied by some delegates, turned courageous from the generous flow of more South African wine. It was truly an unforgettable experience.

SOUTH AFRICAN SPEAKERS
The success of the Industrial Participation Program brought forth many rich lessons. We are indebted to our South African friends for sharing their experiences with us. We learnt a new phrase in offset called "funny munnies"; we discussed the merits of penalty provisions and above all we learnt lessons from the side of the regulators who engineered possibly the largest benefit accruing to a country's industrial participation program.

We were honoured by speeches from Dr. Paul Jordan on "Industrial Development of South Africa through investments and Industrial Participation" and Mr. Vannan Pillay on "Offset: The Civil Industrial Participation Program (NIP) of South Africa) from the Department of Trade and Industry; Mr. Johan van Dyk from ARMSCOR on "ARMSCOR's Facilitative Role in the Defence Family" and "How to approach Countertrade in South Africa"; Mr. Francois Stols from UEC Technologies on "Becoming a participant in the International Trade Market" ; and Mr. Tom Scoft of the Development Bank Of South Africa on "Economic Overview of South Africa with special Focus on Infrastructure, Investments, Joint-Ventures and Co-operation".

INTERNATIONAL SPEAKERS
The international speakers who spoke in APCA 2000 were Mr. David Hew from APCA on "Countertrade, Structured Finance and Offset in the Asia Pacific Region"; Mr. Colin Heritage of Stemcor, UK on "The Role of Project and Trade Finance in Offset Programs"; Mr. Barry Teideman of DESO, UK on "Making it Work - UK's Approach"; Dr. Christoph Kamm of APCA; ABB Structured Finance, Zurich on "European Offset Requirements and How to Deal with Stringent Offset Conditions" and finally Mr. Radao Iguchi of Jetro, South Africa on "Export between South Africa and Japan".

APCA 2001 - SINGAPORE
APCA 2001 will take place in Singapore between 12 to 14 September 2001 as a companion event of and following the conclusion of the Asia Pacific Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (APPEC). APPEC is a regional event, which has taken place for the last 17 years, and it is specifically targeted because petroleum and oil is one of the most countertraded commodities in the world.

Members would have received the announcement notice on APCA 2001 where it will be noted that the conference program has paid equal attention to countertrade, structured finance and offset. In response to our members' feedback, more time has also been set aside to allow for trade matching and bilateral meetings.

We are honoured and privileged to have the participation and support of the Singapore Trade Development Board for APCA 2001.

UN CONSULTATIVE MEETING
We continue to play our role in the world stage when our Secretary General was invited to deliver a speech under the session on "Innovative Sources of Financing" at a high-level regional consultative meeting held in Jakarta on 2nd to 5th August 2000. This is a preparatory process for the purposes of the High Level Intergovernmental meeting on "Financing for Development" to be convened at ministerial level in 2001 pursuant to a United Nation's General Assembly's resolution (resolution 54/196) reached at its 54th session. Members can read the report emanating from this meeting organised by the Government of Indonesia in close collaboration with UNCTAD, UNESCAP and the Asian Development Bank at www.unescap.org as well as view the presentations of some of the speakers.

In light of this development in 2001, the theme for APCA 2001 is "Countertrade, Structured Finance & Offset - Providing Solutions, Creating Opportunities".