Press Releases

Progress towards realising the goals of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) 2025 remains steady and ASEAN will continue to work closely to implement the deliverables under the AEC 2025 agenda. Singapore as the Chair of ASEAN in 2018 had identified 12 economic priority deliverables focusing on innovation and digital economy.

Despite the projection that the digital economy will add US$1 trillion to ASEAN GDP by 2025, there are policy hurdles that must be overcome by ASEAN to realise the digital economy potential for the region which now has a combined GDP of over US$2.6 trillion.

CIMB ASEAN Research Institute (CARI) launched a publication titled “Advancing ASEAN in the Digital Age” at the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit 2017 today to commemorate ASEAN’s 50th Anniversary. The publication was jointly launched by Jose Ma. “Joey” A. Concepcion III, 2017 Chair of the ASEAN Business Advisory Council, Dato’

ASEAN needs to broaden its bond markets investor base to ensure more diverse and balanced financial systems and financing for infrastructure and other long-term developmental priorities. The Asian Development Bank estimates that the region needs US$110 billion in infrastructure expenditure per year until 2025.

Australia was ASEAN’s first dialogue partner in 1974 however, the economic relations between the two have not grown to its potential, especially with the populations of both nations being so closely connected. Approximately, 896,000 people claimed heritage from ASEAN nations in the last Australian census, while over 1.3 million people

ASEAN should remain focused on its economic agenda and not let political issues cloud its vision of integration. In view of rising protectionism globally, this was one of the key themes that emerged during a roundtable titled, “Lessons learned from Brexit: risks and opportunities for ASEAN?” which was organised by

ASEAN businesses have urged President Trump’s administration to provide more clarity and certainty in U.S. trade policies for the benefit of mutual growth in the U.S. and ASEAN. A roundtable discussion, with the theme “Dealing with a changing world order: What will Trump’s economic and foreign policies mean for ASEAN?”

Deepening individual capital markets will help address critical funding gaps in ASEAN, including infrastructure development needs, by allowing issuers to raise affordable capital at scale and providing investors with viable and diverse options to deploy short- and long-term domestic savings. This is a prerequisite to address the disparity in maturity

ASEAN Business Club (ABC), together with ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC) have entered into a cooperation with nine Japanese business associations to form the ASEAN-Japan Innovation Network (AJIN). AJIN is a business network between ASEAN and Japan to nurture new industries, facilitate business collaboration through networking, research and policy proposals

Although ASEAN stands to benefit greatly from China’s Belt and Road Initiative (“BRI”), experts believe that the region must also balance the welcomed infrastructure investment with its principle, “to maintain the centrality with ASEAN as the primary driving force in its relations and cooperation with its external partners,” as prescribed