The ASEAN summit on June 22 and 23 in Bangkok reached consensus on a number of key issues that analysts say will bring the bloc closer together and make it an “agenda setter”. Leaders attending the 34th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit emphasized “ASEAN centrality” — advancing and implementing policies that are based on regional interest. In a statement issued after the regional meeting, the leaders of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam “reaffirmed the importance of maintaining ASEAN centrality and unity in our community-building efforts and engagement with external partners”. Mustafa Izzuddin, research fellow at National University of Singapore’s Institute of South Asian Studies, told China Daily that ASEAN centrality “underscored the importance of making the regional organization more people-centric and people-friendly”. Herman Joseph Kraft, executive director of the Manila-based Institute for Strategic and Development Studies, said promoting ASEAN centrality is about making the regional bloc “an agenda setter for multilateral agreements”. Kraft said ASEAN will also serve as a platform for discussions of broader issues, in addition to those that only concern the Southeast Asian region. He cited as an example the call by the ASEAN leaders for the immediate conclusion of negotiations on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a proposed free trade agreement. ASEAN led the formation of the RCEP in 2012 and was supported by six other countries: China, India, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. If completed, it will be the largest multilateral trade deal in history, accounting for about one-third of the global economy. But negotiations over the trade pact stalled after some countries were reluctant to slash tariffs. Prayut Chan-o-Cha, Thailand’s prime minister and ASEAN summit chairman, said at a media briefing that ASEAN hopes negotiations on the agreement can be concluded by the end of this year, since it would help Southeast Asian leaders manage uncertainties in the region. Kavi Chongkittavorn, senior fellow at the Bangkok-based Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University, said the conclusion of RCEP talks after more than six years of negotiations would allow the bloc to “send a strong message to the world that free trade and multilateralism are still alive and well”. Siriwan Chutikamoltham, academic director of the Nanyang Business School at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, praised ASEAN’s support for conclusion of negotiations on the free trade agreement. She said the RCEP would expand trade, help boost ASEAN economic growth and push back against trade protectionism. But Siriwan said she opposes “a hasty deal”. “Some sticky points of the RCEP, such as environmental protection, need careful analysis and negotiation. Many ASEAN nations depend on agriculture and fisheries that are so vulnerable to environmental degradation,” she said. The Southeast Asian leaders also published their own position on the Indo-Pacific strategy — a global security and trade concept that encompasses Asia, Africa and the Pacific and Indian oceans — and adopted the Bangkok Declaration on Combating Marine Debris in ASEAN. The Bangkok Declaration was drafted on March 5 amid reports that Southeast Asian nations are among the biggest sources of plastic products that pollute oceans. ASEAN leaders have committed to reducing marine pollution and to implementing regional and local action plans to address the growing waste problem. Izzuddin of National University of Singapore said it is time for ASEAN to “do something more concerted and coordinated in curbing marine pollution, which is a public health issue”. Theresa Mundita Lim, executive director of the Philippines-based ASEAN Center for Biodiversity, said the adoption of the Bangkok Declaration will not only affect ASEAN’s marine environment but also other seas and oceans worldwide. Thai Prime Minister Prayut, in his news briefing, said the regional bloc’s outlook on the Indo-Pacific strategy is based on ASEAN’s view that the Indo-Pacific region should be seen as a region of cooperation, development and prosperity. Prayut said ASEAN leaders agreed to develop deeper relations with external partners, with ASEAN “playing a central and strategic role” in the Indo-Pacific region.

Being at different development stages, the 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations must form partnerships based on real understanding to achieve inclusive and sustainable economies, said speakers at an international forum. The level of prosperity should not be measured by the total growth of a country, but by the living quality of the poorest 40 percent, said Supachai Panitchpakdi, former deputy prime minister of Thailand and former director-general of the World Trade Organization. Speaking during the 2019 ASEAN Community Leadership and Partnership Forum held in Bangkok from June 23 to 24, Supachai said ASEAN countries need to unite to develop strong rules of law and a peaceful society. He added that partnerships will help achieve the 17 sustainable development goals listed by the United Nations. The SDGs address issues including the eradication of extreme poverty, halting deforestation, promoting gender equality and reducing conflict. Thailand is this year’s chair of ASEAN, a regional bloc formed by Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos and the Philippines. “Trade tension is something that is going to have a negative impact on the global trade system and economic growth. ASEAN will also suffer from it because it is an open economy,” said Supachai. Maintaining close cooperation will be effective for the bloc to cope with the fast-changing situation, he added. Held in conjunction with the 34th ASEAN Summit in Bangkok, the forum was jointly organized by Kingsley Strategic Institute in Malaysia, ASEAN Business Advisory Council, ASEAN Studies Centre of Chulalongkorn University, and Bangkok-based organizations Nation-Building Institute and Asia Centre. China Daily was the media partner of the forum. Under the theme Building Partnership for a Sustainable and Inclusive ASEAN, around 300 representatives from government, business, academic, think tanks and civil society gathered to discuss challenges and strategic issues facing the region. Topics included sustainable development, the young generation, the digital economy and connectivity. ALSO READ: CICA members call for sustainable development in Asia “We have to fulfill the AEC as much as possible,” said Supachai, referring to the ASEAN Economic Community. He noted that more work is required throughout the region to eliminate trade barriers. With about 6,000 non-tariff measures in ASEAN, governments need to expose themselves and create a better business environment, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. The AEC was formally established in 2015 to promote economic integration and enhance the region’s global competitiveness as a whole. Pichet Durongkaveroj, Thailand’s minister of digital economy and society, said that through greater cooperation and sustainability in ASEAN, regional development will become more vibrant. Connectivity in transportation and digital infrastructure will also become stronger, he added. “Time is on our side,” said Pichet. “Transformation is the key word. It rests upon all ASEAN economies to define what sort of transformation each and every ASEAN member is going through, which is very crucial.” Pichet said his ministry is gearing up for a digital Thailand through the SIGMA framework, which focuses on cybersecurity, digital infrastructure, digital government, digital manpower and digital applications. Kriengsak Chareonwongsak, chairman of Nation-Building Institute, said governments must prioritize issues concerning sustainable and inclusive development. He added that partnerships among ASEAN members require more than collaboration, cooperation and coordination, which is why leaderships and management can promote integration and synergy. “The public, private and people sectors working toward integration in the sense of partnership could produce marvelous results,” said Kriengsak. Michael Yeoh, president of Kingsley Strategic Institute said the digital economy will drive the future growth of ASEAN. “With the growth of the internet of things, big data, artificial intelligence and virtual reality, ASEAN needs to make a quantum leap to compete in the digital era,” he said. Asia will be the main driver of global growth over the coming decade, and ASEAN can take advantage of this phenomenon, said Arin Jira, chairman of the ASEAN Business Advisory Council. He said ASEAN should engage in regional partnerships through cooperation frameworks like Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, as well as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership – a free trade agreement between ASEAN and six of its FTA partners including China. The RCEP is expected to conclude negotiations this year. A better connected ASEAN is needed for the future of the young generation, improving areas like physical transport and digital technology, said Suthiphand Chirathivat, executive director of the ASEAN Studies Center and professor emeritus of economics at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. The young generation in ASEAN spends an average of six hours and four minutes online daily, with 61 percent of time spent on leisure, in comparison to 39 percent on work, according to a 2018 survey of 64,000 ASEAN citizens by the World Economic Forum.

ASEAN countries need to work together to unleash the potential of technology to develop the digital economy, create new business opportunities and spur regional growth. This was discussed by speakers at a China Daily Asia Leadership Roundtable panel session in Bangkok on June 24, as part of the 2019 ASEAN Community Leadership and Partnership Forum. Held on June 23-24 in conjunction with the 34th ASEAN Summit in Bangkok, the forum was organized jointly by Kingsley Strategic Institute in Malaysia, the ASEAN Business Advisory Council, the ASEAN Studies Center of Chulalongkorn University, and Bangkok-based organizations Nation-Building Institute and Asia Centre. The forum’s theme was Building Partnerships for a Sustainable and Inclusive ASEAN. New technologies such as 5G will create opportunities for the ASEAN digital economy, said Dar Wong, executive vice-president of the ASEAN-China Commerce Association. ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a regional group comprising 10 member countries – Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam. Thailand is the chair of ASEAN this year. “ASEAN cannot deny that it will be influenced by 5G,” said Wong, adding that with the rolling out of the new generation of mobile technology, everything, from work environment to security systems, will become obsolete and people should be aware of new things to emerge soon. “We are in an age where we control the machines by artificial intelligence and other solutions, but with 5G, we will control the robots and then the robots will control the machines,” said Wong, referring to the panel’s theme: ASEAN in the Age of Disruption – Wiring Up ASEAN for the Digital Economy. Jason Chiu, founder and CEO of Hong Kong tech startup Cherrypicks, said ASEAN countries need to cooperate internally and externally, not just for technology advancement but more importantly for the construction of infrastructure. Taking, for example, the idea of smart cities, Chiu said the concept is not about technology only, but about citizens and data. “A lot of technologies are available today, yet legal systems facilitating infrastructure and human behavior, consumer mindset and society are not ready yet,” said Chiu, whose company is working on sensor networks for airports, subways, railways and shopping malls, to generate location big data and make such venues smarter in Hong Kong. “We need to learn from others, developing what is relevant and suitable for ASEAN to find its own blueprint … ASEAN countries should work together as a region,” said Chiu, noting that China’s Belt and Road Initiative can also be a platform for joint cooperation on both hard and digital infrastructure. Moderating the session, Barbara Meynert, senior adviser of Hong Kong supply chain and logistics conglomerate Fung Group, said there are tremendous opportunities for ASEAN for the growth of the digital economy. “ASEAN is an important economy as it ranks third in the world in terms of population, sixth in GDP and fourth in trade value. But ASEAN is not yet a digital economy, it is only emerging,” said Meynert, noting the digital sector’s contribution to ASEAN’s GDP is still relatively low compared with those of China, Europe and the United States. From the payments perspective, ASEAN is a very dynamic market, said Laetitia Moncarz, director for payments markets, ASEAN region, at the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), a global financial messaging platform based in Belgium. Moncarz said the region’s high GDP growth, rising megacities and large number of tech-savvy young people make it an attractive market for the payment industry, especially when it comes to technology. Moncarz said many ASEAN countries are already participating in, or considering using, SWIFT’s Global Payment Innovation (GPI) platform, launched to improve the cross-border payment experience. Around 50 percent of the millions of payments globally under GPI are credited end-to-end within 30 minutes, she said. For the banking industry, pain has already been felt due to the emergence of fintech, said Eddie Hu, chief representative for Malaysia and Thailand at Hong Kong-based Chong Sing Holdings FinTech Group. In a report by global advisory firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, top banking executives fear that more than 20 percent of financial services business will be under threat from fintech by 2020. In addition, Hu said traditional banks in ASEAN, looking to offer a seamless business experience, can face difficulties getting licensed to enter other countries in the region. He hopes that ASEAN – to catch up with fintech, in a paradigm shift for the future – can develop a shared financial world for everyone. Noting that China spends more on semiconductor imports, mainly from the US, than on oil, Pindar Wong, chairman of internet financial infrastructure consultancy VeriFi (Hong Kong), said China and the region are facing a “silicon shock”, which is going to take 10 to 15 years to resolve. “The accusations (against Chinese telecommunications giant) Huawei are basically unsubstantiated as there is no evidence to say there is surveillance,” said Wong, noting that opportunities for ASEAN lie in technology transfer from China to the region and developing the region to be a manufacturing base for 5G equipment. Wong said ASEAN needs to develop as a network of nations and create technical protocols to address the cross-border challenges it faces. Pornpimol Kanchanalak, adviser to Thailand’s minister of foreign affairs, said the Fourth Industrial Revolution, while bringing much change through innovative technology, does not provide a lot of room for mistakes, and that is why people need to be careful about the negative effects. She spoke of the importance of connecting people at risk of being left behind by the rapid development of the digital economy, and paying heed to the job displacement caused by technology and automation. Speaking of the digital economy’s impact on poverty, Goh Peng Ooi, group executive chairman of Malaysian software company Silverlake Group, said previous industrial revolutions resulted in fewer working days per week, which shows that social problems accompanying technological development can eventually be solved. “Tech itself can include everybody – it is up to the leadership to make it good (for society),” said Cherrypick’s Chiu, on how technology can contribute to ASEAN’s inclusive development. Beneficiaries of the digital economy are the users rather than the creators, as increasing numbers of people gain access to and make use of technology to get information and grow business, said Yose Rizal Damuri, head of the economics department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Jakarta-based think tank. “ASEAN states should open their doors for the investment from China, so they can use the platforms to create benefits for the economy,” said Yose. “It is time for ASEAN to come up with a set of rules, institutions and standards that could define the role of government in the cross-border digital economy,” he said. Yose said issues brought by the digital economy should be dealt with internationally, including discussing principles related to e-commerce in the negotiation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the proposed free trade agreement between the 10 ASEAN members and six of their FTA partners – China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India.