ASEAN is on the cusp of entering a “golden age” driven by five key factors and a landmark digital economy agreement, said Jirayut Subsrisopa, founder and chief executive officer of Bitkub Capital Group Holdings. Speaking at the ASEAN Economic Outlook 2025 seminar on Monday, Jirayut outlined how the upcoming ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA) could inject up to US$2 trillion (66.88 trillion) into the region’s economy. DEFA will unify over 600 million people in a single digital marketplace, positioning ASEAN to become the world’s fourth-largest economy,” he said. The legally binding agreement, already more than 50% complete, aims to…
Author: Asia News Network
Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is set to raise issues concerning regional stability and economic partnership during the 44th and 45th Asean Summits and Related Summits here from tomorrow to Friday, when world leaders descend on the Laotian capital. As the chair of Asean this year, Laos has set the tagline of the summit as “Enhancing Connectivity and Resilience”, which is in line with its goal of transforming the landlocked nation into a centre of regional integration. Anwar is set to touch on matters concerning digitalisation, artificial intelligence, new technologies, climate change, transnational crime and territorial disputes in…
Indonesia, now a member of the world’s biggest free trade agreement, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEPP), has applied to join the world’s next biggest Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement on Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which has been left by the United States but joined by China. Indonesia has conveyed a formal request to join the CPTPP via New Zealand. By joining the CPTPP, which accounted for 10 percent of global GDP in 2023, Indonesia aims to open more trade and investment opportunities, especially with countries with which it does not yet have free trade agreements, such as Mexico, Peru and Chile,…
Vietnam’s economy could reach a value of US$2 trillion by 2050, said Professor Klaus Schwab in a talk show held on Sunday by the HCM City People’s Committee. Klaus Schwab, founder and chairman of the World Economic Forum (WEF), said that it was based on large market size with more than 100 million people. Gross domestic product (GDP) this year was expected to reach $430 billion and GDP growth rate ranges from six to seven per cent. The talk show, with the theme Knowledge Economy – The Foundation for a Prosperous Future and Youth Action, featured about 1,200 leaders of…
India’s resumption of rice exports on September 28 has hit Thai exporters hard, according to the Thai Rice Exporters Association (TREA). TREA president Chookiat Ophaswongse said India’s return to the market, combined with the Thai currency reaching a 30-month high of 32.37 per US dollar on September 30, has hurt the competitiveness of Thai rice exporters, cutting their revenues by 3-4 baht per dollar. The wholesale price of Thai white rice (5%) has dropped sharply from 22 baht per kilo (22,000 baht per ton) at the start of the year to 16-16.5 baht per kilo (16,000-16,500 baht per ton). The…
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is poised to visit Laos for the South Korea-ASEAN summit in Vientiane, Laos, on October 10, with both sides working to upgrade ties to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, the highest level in ASEAN’s diplomatic hierarchy. Laos will be one of the three Southeast Asian nations Yoon plans to visit next week, along with the Philippines and Singapore. This year’s summit between South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will mark a watershed moment, Kim Tae-hyo, first deputy director of the presidential National Security Office, said in a press briefing in Seoul on…
China launched a Smart Dragon 3 carrier rocket on Tuesday morning off the coast of Haiyang in Shandong province, placing eight satellites in space. The rocket blasted off at 10:31 am from a launch service ship and soon deployed the satellites into their preset orbital positions, marking the rocket model’s fourth sea-based launch, China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, maker of the Smart Dragon 3 series, announced after the liftoff. The Smart Dragon 3 is a solid-propellant rocket model. The type is 31 meters tall, has a diameter of 2.65 meters and can carry a lift-off weight of 140 metric…
The private sector, comprising businesses and business associations, and government officials from Member States have engaged in discussions about the provisions of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA) and learnt more about the potential benefits of an AANZFTA upgrade. The Free Trade Area was discussed during the AANZFTA Regional Business Roundtable meeting held in Vientiane last week, co-hosted by Laos’ Ministry of Industry and Commerce. The meeting shared the results of National Business Roundtable Meetings as well as encouraging private sector usage of FTA provisions and building understanding of barriers to trade within the private sector. Some 200 participants…
Senior officials from China and member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations have lauded China-ASEAN cooperation as an exemplary partnership that has played a key role in promoting regional progress, resilience and shared prosperity. They made the remarks on Tuesday at the opening ceremony of the 21st China-ASEAN Expo and China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region. More than 3,000 companies are attending the expo. Addressing the opening ceremony, Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang said that interactions between China and ASEAN have served as the most successful and dynamic model of cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region,…
The ”Group of Four” countries, which includes India, Germany, Japan, and Brazil, have again called for an urgent reform of the United Nations Security Council through text-based negotiations. The four countries, which are all claimants for permanent seats in the UNSC, stressed a comprehensive reform of the Security Council as an essential part of any endeavour to make the UN better reflect contemporary geopolitical realities and thus fit for the present and future. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Foreign Minister of Germany Annalena Baerbock, Japan Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, and Brazil Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira met Monday on the margins…