Asean must stay cohesive and united, given troubled external environment, says PM Lee

LABUAN BAJO - Asean countries cooperated well during the Covid-19 pandemic and the grouping must stay cohesive and united at the highest levels given the troubled global outlook, said Prime Minster Lee Hsien Loong on Wednesday.

One way for the bloc to do so is to deepen its economic collaboration and expand into new growth areas, such as the digital and green economies.Underscoring how effective regional integration underpins Asean centrality, he said the grouping needs to upgrade its core agreements, such as the Asean Trade in Goods Agreement, to keep them relevant to evolving business practices.

The intergovernmental project was set up in 2014 to study the feasibility of cross-border power trade, and Singapore began importing renewable energy from Laos via Thailand and Malaysia in 2022. Beyond the economic sphere, Asean should also step up cooperation on transnational issues. PM Lee said this includes protecting the region’s people from increasingly sophisticated cross-border threats.

He welcomed statements from the leaders on the development of the future Asean’s community as well as strengthening the bloc’s capacity for institutional effectiveness. “We should streamline and optimise Asean processes, and strengthen the Asean Secretariat and the role of the Asean Secretary General to enable them to more effectively implement our key priorities,” he said.

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