'Clinton keen on workers rights in Asia'

CAMBODIA: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Friday urged Southeast Asian nations to promote workers' rights and improve labour conditions as a means of spurring economic growth.

"Standing up for workers' rights and high labour standards is not just the right and moral thing to do, it's also the smart and strategic thing as well," Clinton told a women's forum in the Cambodian town of Siem Reap.

Respecting such rights "holds the key to unlocking Asia's next great phase of growth and rebalancing the global economy".

Her comments came as US businesses are poised to push into Myanmar, virtually virgin territory as the United States only this week eased decades-old sanctions to allow US investment but attached stringent reporting conditions.

Clinton acknowledged that in Myanmar "as the economy opens up, there will be new challenges".

"It will be tempting, given the country's extremely low wages, to try to attract investment by undercutting competitors like Bangladesh and Cambodia." But she argued long-term sustainable development would be strengthened if the nation's leaders "focus on protecting workers, attracting quality jobs, and continuing to reform the political system".

"Denying workers their universal rights costs societies dearly in lost productivity, innovation, and growth," Clinton insisted. AFP