Opening remarks by Minister Lim Hng Kiang at the 24th ASEAN Economic Ministers' Retreat

OPENING REMARKS BY MR LIM HNG KIANG, MINISTER FOR TRADE AND INDUSTRY (TRADE) AT THE 24th ASEAN ECONOMIC MINISTERS’ RETREAT ON THURSDAY 1 MAR 2018, 9.00 AM, AT SHANGRI-LA HOTEL

Your Excellencies,

Distinguished Delegates,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

1.             On behalf of my delegation, I would like to extend each and every one of you a very warm welcome to Singapore. It is our pleasure to host you this year, and we hope you will enjoy your many stays with us in 2018.

2.             We are gathered today for the 24th ASEAN Economic Ministers’ Retreat. This is an opportunity for us to engage in frank discussions over the economic issues that confront our region, and to deliberate on how we can strengthen our regional economic integration efforts, in particular, through the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Blueprint 2025.

3.             The global economy is recovering. With global growth projected to pick up in 2018, we can expect this to bolster exports and growth in ASEAN economies. This is because we’ve laid our foundations well. As a well-connected region, ASEAN is poised to benefit from the rise in investment, manufacturing activities and trade that we are witnessing globally. We have improved trade and investment regimes and better infrastructure as a result of our collective initiatives under the auspices of the AEC. These have placed us in a better position to attract business from around the world, and to capture new growth opportunities.

4.             ASEAN can do better. We are currently the sixth largest economy in the world, and projections put us to be the fourth largest by 2030.^[1] With our young population, growing middle class, and rapidly increasing urbanisation, ASEAN’s potential has yet to be fully realised.

5.             The region will benefit from pushing forward the implementation of the AEC. To do this, all ASEAN Member States must stay the course in pursuing deeper economic integration and liberalisation, so that our citizens can enjoy the benefits of our collective community building efforts.

6.             Singapore is honoured to take over the chairmanship of ASEAN this year. We have benefitted from the able hands of previous chairs – in particular the Philippines in 2017 – all of whom have continued to build ASEAN into a cohesive organisation that can adapt to a complex and uncertain economic environment. Singapore looks forward to building upon the good work of previous ASEAN chairs to make meaningful strides in the next lap of ASEAN’s integration journey.

7.             Our chairmanship this year will focus on strengthening ASEAN to become a resilient and innovative region. We envision a united ASEAN in the face of growing challenges in the global strategic landscape, and for our region to be adaptable and forward looking. Singapore’s economic objectives for 2018 are thus to deepen regional connectivity to position ASEAN as the region for increasingly seamless economic activity and growing opportunities.

8.             In order to achieve these objectives, our priorities are to: 

a.    First, strengthen ASEAN Centrality through continual alignment with the necessary work to progress the AEC Blueprint 2025;

b.    Second, progress work on some of the longstanding initiatives that ASEAN has been pursuing; and

c.     Third, position ASEAN for its next phase of growth – especially through innovation.

9.             Innovation and the digital economy are key areas that Singapore intends to pursue under our chairmanship. Singapore aims to promote innovation, build up digital connectivity, and facilitate e-Commerce flows. Some estimates indicate that the ASEAN digital economy has the potential to grow to US$200 billion by 2025, with e-Commerce accounting for US$88 billion.^[2] We must lay the ground for us to fully capitalise on these opportunities.

10.          It will not be sufficient for us to only focus on the horizon. Our trade architecture might have served us well over the past years, but we need to enhance and update it to ensure that trade and investment flows continue unhindered throughout our region. The digital economy will not flourish without us fulfilling the basic pre-requisites of trade and investment facilitation. In addition to innovation and digital economy, Singapore is thus pursuing several initiatives with ASEAN Member States to: 

a.    Improve trade facilitation;

b.    Deepen services and investment integration;

c.     Cultivate a conducive regulatory environment; and

d.    Progress ASEAN’s external relations.

We envision these deliverables that Singapore intends to pursue through our ASEAN chairmanship in 2018 to bring about tangible benefits to our businesses and populations. 

11.          ASEAN has come a long way. Let us continue to look outward and forward for new growth prospects, as we consider how we can effect changes within, and among us, to better position ASEAN to capture these opportunities. We look forward to constructive discussions today, and your continued support as we lay the ground for continued success. 

Thank you.

[1]    ASEAN is currently the sixth largest economy in the world with a combined GDP of US$2.55 trillion. Experts from the US-ASEAN Business Council projects that ASEAN will become the fourth largest economy in the world by 2030, after the EU, US and China.

[2]    Source: Joint Study by Good and Temasek, “e-conomy SEA 2016”, 2016