United Technologies chief would inv

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Subject: United Technologies chief would invest in Burma (fwd)



---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 10 Sep 1996 7:30:45 PDT
Newsgroups: clari.world.asia.southeast, clari.world.asia.indochina.misc,
    clari.biz.world_trade, clari.world.asia.indochina
Subject: United Technologies chief would invest in Burma


	 JAKARTA, Sept 10 (Reuter) - The president of the American
company United Technologies Corp said on Tuesday he was prepared
to invest in Burma in defiance of Washington's threats of
sanctions against the Rangoon government.
	 Asked during a news briefing whether the company would move
into Burma if the opportunity arose, George David replied
``yes.''
	 ``I would think it is very likely that we will see
investment in Myanmar (Burma) within the course of the next
three or four years,'' he said.
	 The most likely investment would be in elevators and
airconditioners, he added, noting that Otis elevators had been
operating in Burma since early in the century.
	 The businesses of the Hartford, Connecticut-based
multinational include Pratt and Whitney jet engines, Carrier
airconditioners and Otis elevators.
	 David said that while he personally and United Technologies
as a company ``endorse the whole human rights agenda,'' he
believed sanctions were the wrong way to bring about change.
	 The United States has threatened sanctions against Burma
over the military government's moves against democracy activists
and its human rights record.
	 David said the best method of change was ``involvement and
persuasion... You need to participate and work positively for
change instead of subjecting people to isolation.''
	 The United Technologies chief was in Indonesia as chairman
of the private U.S.-ASEAN business council for meetings on Batam
island on Wednesday and Thursday, and to participate in the
annual official U.S.-ASEAN dialogue.
	 ASEAN, which groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, rejects direct
confrontation and follows a policy of ``constructive
engagement'' with the Rangoon government.
	 David said United Technolgies hopes to boost its global
revenues to $40 billion in the second decade of the next century
from $22.8 billion in 1995.
	 He said sales in Asia would amount to about $5.0 billion in
1996, of which about $1.5 billion came from Japan, $1.2 billion
from the ASEAN states, about $1.0 billion from China and the
balance from other countries in the region.
	 Asia was the ``overwhelming investment priority for the
company in the future,'' he said, adding that what was important
to the company was investment in the region and ``local market
presence.''