REGIONAL INTEGRATION CRUCIAL AMID GLOBAL ECONOMIC SHIFTS

Phnom Penh, 6 March 2025: ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC) Chairman Tan Sri Nazir Razak today called for the acceleration of economic collaboration across ASEAN. He urged the region to strengthen intra-ASEAN trade and investments in the face of growing global economic fragmentation. In his address to participants at the Cambodia-ASEAN Business Summit 2025, he stressed that regional integration is essential for smaller nations in a volatile global economy.

The Summit, themed “Accelerating ASEAN’s Connectivity: People, Infrastructure and Trade” provided a strategic platform for Tan Sri Nazir Razak to advocate ASEAN-BAC Malaysia’s 12 key initiatives during its ASEAN chairmanship year. These initiatives under the theme ‘Unifying Markets for Shared Prosperity,’ focus on promoting intra-ASEAN investment, financial integration, sustainability, inclusivity, digitalisation, and strengthening ASEAN identity. Groundwork for these initiatives began 20 months ago are fully aligned with Malaysia’s ASEAN Chairmanship theme “Inclusivity and Sustainability, with efforts now focused on securing endorsements from ASEAN governments.

“When we think of the emerging world order and its economic fragmentation, we see the disintegration of the US rules-based system. In this new reality where might is right, we have to conclude that for small nations, regional collaboration is crucial, if not existential. This is a pivotal time for ASEAN, so we must go beyond rhetoric and make meaningful changes this year. We must make this regional economy more of a reality and less of 10 fragmented markets,” said Tan Sri Nazir Razak in his special address to attendees of this summit who included Samdech Moha Borvor Thipadei Hun Manet, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia, Dr. Kao Kim Hourn, Secretary-General of ASEAN, Cambodian cabinet ministers and business delegates.

One key initiative is the ASEAN Business Entity (ABE), designed to pursue cross-border operational flexibilities for regional companies. ABE-qualified businesses would benefit from free movement of personnel and economies of scale across ASEAN.

He also spoke about the ASEAN IPO Prospectus, supported by the region’s securities regulators, to enable companies to raise capital from investors across multiple ASEAN markets while seeking listing – marking a significant advancement toward capital market integration within the region.

“Additionally, in support of ASEAN’s effort in pushing for greater digitalisation of cross-border trade through the Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA) agreement, We are developing a new national digital trade exchange platform to process non-customs business documents in cross-border trade. We aim to pursue proof-of-concept for interoperability among Malaysia-Thailand-Singapore this year,” he added.

The two-day summit also featured panel sessions and business matching sessions designed to foster partnerships and collaboration across the region.