ASEAN Member States need to cooperate to ensure that the ten-member bloc continues to be an attractive and dynamic region for trade and investment and a hub for regional production as an integral part of the global supply chain, which is highly competitive.
The remarks were made at the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (ABIS) 2022 held in Phnom Penh on Nov. 10.
As the ASEAN Chair 2022, Cambodia accelerates and coordinates the joint efforts of ASEAN to deepen economic integration and to promote inclusive, competitive, resilient, and equitable recovery after the COVID-19 crisis, said Prime Minister Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen.
The five-decade bloc continues facing new and increasingly complex challenges that are occurring one after another in economic, social, environmental, and geo-political aspects, he said, stressing that the situation and outlook of the global economy is still fragile and prone to new crises.
“In this sense, ASEAN must continue adhering to the principles of multilateral trading system and enhancing trade liberalisation to promote ASEAN as an open, transparent, and inclusive region while maintaining the “Centrality” and “Unity” of ASEAN in building global and regional relations,” Samdech Techo Hun Sen said.
With the growing challenges of supply chain disruptions, global inflation surge, soaring prices of food and energy, significantly higher cost fertilisers, and with rising risks of recession in 2023, ASEAN must remain vigilant to face global uncertainty, said H.E. Joko Widodo, President of Indonesia.
“We must maintain our region as the engine of growth,” he underlined in a recorded speech at the summit. “We must strengthen Southeast Asia’s role as a hub for regional production as an integral part of the global supply chain, which is highly competitive.”
The Indonesian leader called on all business community in the region to do investment that accelerates economic recovery, to strengthen Southeast Asia as competitive production hub, and to accelerate affordable and reliable clean energy for all.
According to the assessment and forecast by ASEAN+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO), ASEAN’s economy is recovering, achieving economic growth rate of 3.1 percent in 2021 along with expected growth rate of 5.3 percent and 4.9 percent in 2022 and 2023 respectively.
Given the unity and resolve of the business community and of Governments in the region, ASEAN can engage in deeper cooperation, better respond to challenges, and strive towards common prosperity in the region, and towards development in an environment of freedom and peace, said Prime Minister of Vietnam H.E. Pham Minh Chinh.
“I am fully confident that we will continue to build upon the “ASEAN spirit”, upholding responsibility and unity as we actively strive to together overcome challenges and pave the way towards a brighter future for our common home that is ASEAN,” H.E. Pham Minh Chinh said in his remarks at the summit.
Held as part of the 40th and 41st ASEAN Summit and Related Summits, the two-day summit was an important forum for the business community to meet directly with country leaders and company presidents to address challenges in Southeast Asia.
Source: Agency Kampuchea Press