Issue 49

International experts joined to discuss the factors shaping economic growth in the AEC+3 countries.

Keynote speakers and panelists at the AEC+3 Business Forum 2016: Reshaping a New Paradigm for Growth debated how the AEC countries, China, South Korea and Japan can work together to increase economic growth in March.

Co-organised by Kasikorn Bank and Financial Times, the forum was held on March 16 at the Plaza Athenee, Bangkok.

According to Nielsen Forecasting, AEC’s middle class population will reach 400 million people by 2020 compared with 190 million people in 2012. This will be a major driving force behind the community’s continued development.

“[In ASEAN] there is huge economic growth, and it’s a time of very significant changes,” said Alan Bollard, Executive Director of APEC Secretariat, and a keynote speaker at the forum.

Bollard addressed several issues from the shift in economic growth, to labour costs and changing business models.

“In this region there will be a big increase in trade and services across borders, and we will see that service trade growth is outgrowing merchandise trade growth,” he said.

Tony Fernandes, Group CEO, Air Asia, believes that businesses in the region still have a lot of room for growth with hundreds of millions of consumers ready to embrace home-grown ASEAN brands.

“There are 600 million people in the ASEAN market but you can count in your hand how many ASEAN brands [there are],” says Fernandes. “There is potential that brands from Thailand or Indonesia can become household names.”

Some of the challenges for the AEC+3 discussed at the forum included increased competition in AEC countries, sourcing and retaining labour in the region and disruptive technology such as e-commerce and start-ups.

Moreover, to enhance cooperation in the region, 13 organisations from both private and public sector spanning 10 countries signed an AEC+3 multilateral business collaboration Memorandum of Understanding, the first of its kind in Thailand.

Some of the signatories included Isara Vongkusolkit, Chair of the Thai Chamber of Commerce and the Board of Trade of Thailand, Xu Ningning, Executive President of China-ASEAN Business Council, and Takeshi Akagi, GM of International Department, Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The agreement covers cooperation on trade, investment and technology, as well as sharing information on economic statistics, while providing trade partner introductions and cross-border business matching activities.

Words by Pimsirinuch Borsub