World Economic Forum on ASEAN 2018

Taking place under the theme "ASEAN 4.0: Entrepreneurship and the Fourth Industrial Revolution", the meeting produced numerous notable outcomes:

New Partnerships against Malaria in Asia Pacific

The Asia Pacific Leaders Malaria Alliance (APLMA) announced support for two new initiatives to accelerate the elimination of malaria and improve health outcomes in the Asia Pacific region. The two initiatives are Blended Finance for Impact and M2030.

Digital ASEAN Initiative

Digital ASEAN, one of the World Economic Forum’s flagship initiatives in South-East Asia, held two workshops during the meeting, convening 90 government ministers, business leaders and policy-makers to set the goals for the year ahead. The initiative has five task forces focused on: harmonizing data policy and governance rules in ASEAN; upgrading broadband access, quality and speed; developing digital skills; improving cooperation for cybersecurity; and building a pan-regional e-payments ecosystem. Each task force now has a clear roadmap of goals to be achieved in the coming 12 months.

• Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and the Acting Minister of Information and Communications of Viet Nam built strong momentum for a “Flat ASEAN” by calling for abolition of international roaming charges imposed on ASEAN citizens when travelling within the region, and establishment of a regional ICT University to train a skilled workforce for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, as well as a Cybersecurity Information Sharing and Analysis Centre to ensure that all citizens and systems can be safely connected on the internet.
• Among the first to make a digital skills pledge, Google announced it is deepening its commitment to train 3 million SME workers across all 10 countries in South-East Asia in digital skills by 2020

#DQEveryChild ASEAN

Young Global Leaders in ASEAN expressed a common goal of enhancing digital citizenship and online safety among children in the region. They decided to work together on #DQEveryChild, a strategic global movement to empower 8-12 year olds with comprehensive digital citizenship skills from the start of their digital lives and help them become informed and discerning users of digital media and technology. More information at https://www.dqinstitute.org/

Meetings and sessions held at the Forum on ASEAN included:

Grow Asia Forum 2018

More than 170 senior leaders and decision-makers in the agriculture industry gathered at the Grow Asia Forum 2018 to agree strategies for transforming agriculture and food systems in the region anchored on public-private policy dialogue and Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies. Grow Asia’s network includes more than 480 partners operating across 37 value-chain projects in five countries, delivering farmers’ income increases of over 20% to approximately 690,000 smallholder farmers.

A New Vision for the Mekong Region

Heads of state of across the Mekong region unanimously reiterated a vision of the vital waterway or economic “bloodline” and one that prioritizes complementarity over competition. The leaders of Viet Nam, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Myanmar affirmed their commitment to shared prosperity and peace. Read more here

Plenary on the Fourth Industrial Revolution

In the opening plenary of the meeting, heads of state from Viet Nam, Singapore, Indonesia, Cambodia, Myanmar and Lao PDR spoke about the transformative technological potential of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. “The opportunities brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution are indeed enormous,” noted Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Prime Minister of Viet Nam. “The start-up atmosphere is truly permeating throughout ASEAN.” Read more statements here

A Conversation with Aung San Suu Kyi

Aung San Suu Kyi, State Counsellor of Myanmar, in a one-on-one conversation with World Economic Forum President Børge Brende talked about her country’s economic agenda, the situation in the Rakhine State, and the recent sentencing of journalists in her country. Read more here

ASEAN Economic Outlook

Government and business leaders at the World Economic Forum on ASEAN said they remain optimistic about the region’s economic outlook despite threats of an escalation in the US-China trade war, rising interest rates and fear of emerging countries’ currency contagion. Read more here.

Reports and surveys launched at the Forum on ASEAN included:

ASEAN Youth Survey

A survey of 64,000 ASEAN citizens, launched in Ha Noi, showed strong optimism around the region that technology will improve incomes and job prospects. Results showed significant regional variance, with youth in Indonesia and Philippines notably more optimistic than counterparts in Singapore and Thailand. Read more

Trade Tech – A New Age for Trade and Supply Chain Finance

Distributed ledger technologies – of which blockchain is the best known form – could play a major role in reducing the worldwide trade finance gap, enabling trade that otherwise could not take place, a new study released in Ha Noi by the World Economic Forum and Bain & Company found. The technology’s effects would be largest in emerging markets and for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).