ASIATODAY.ID, VANG VIENG – The 43rd ASEAN Summit chaired by President Joko Widodo on September 6 2023 has agreed on the ASEAN Vision 2045 as the ASEAN planning document which will replace the ASEAN Blueprint 2025.
To translate the ASEAN Vision 2045, the ASEAN Task Force for Economic Integration (HLTF-EI) met again in Vang Vieng, Laos, on 19-21 February 2024 to prepare the ASEAN Economic Strategic Plan 2026-2030.
Deputy for International Economic Cooperation Coordination, Coordinating Ministry for the Indonesian Economy, Edi Prio Pambudi led the Indonesian Delegation at the 45th HLTF-EI meeting.
On this occasion, Deputy Edi conveyed 3 important ideas as a breakthrough in preparing the ASEAN Economic Strategic Plan 2026-2030, namely addressing the ASEAN resilience agenda and cross-pillar coordination, revitalizing ASEAN priority sectors, and testing cross-pillar coordination mechanisms in selected sectors, namely digital transformation and technology.
“As we all know, AEC Post-2025 will be formed in a new context, and we can no longer carry out business as usual,” said Deputy Edi.
ASEAN faces multi-dimensional challenges ranging from geo-political and geo-economic tensions, green technology, artificial intelligence, an aging population to the climate crisis. Many ASEAN countries also have national growth visions and targets and at the same time in the ASEAN Vision 2045 it is targeted to become the 4th largest economic region in the world.
“To achieve this, we need to have a strategy to overcome future disruptions, develop sectors with high growth potential and embrace megatrends such as digitalization and the green transition,” continued Deputy Edi.
Regarding the idea of ASEAN resilience and cross-pillar coordination, ASEAN could consider creating a platform where the three existing pillars can share work and plans in supporting ASEAN resilience. The platform can be used to increase synergies, and identify joint actions and collaborations.
Furthermore, regarding the idea of revitalizing ASEAN’s priority sectors, at the beginning of the formation of the AEC, ASEAN had started with several industrial cooperation projects but their implementation was not yet optimal. For this reason, with the current changes in the economic landscape, there is room for ASEAN to revive priority sector cooperation to increase trade and investment while generating higher growth.
Then regarding the idea of testing a cross-pillar coordination mechanism in the digital and technology transformation sector, the cross-pillar coordination mechanism that is formed needs to be tested in priority sectors to see effectiveness and efficiency. Considering the current developing issues, it is proposed that trials can be carried out on digital transformation and technology.
Another important issue agreed upon in the process of preparing the ASEAN Economic Strategic Plan 2026-2030 is the structure of the ASEAN Economic Strategic Plan which consists of 5 elements, namely Strategic Goals, Objectives, Strategic Measures, Activities and Performance Measures. These elements will be reviewed periodically every 5 years, except for strategic goals which will be coordinated by the WG on AEC Post-2025.
On this occasion, Indonesia also expressed support for the formation of the Task Force for the Blue Economy (ACTF-BE) and plans to implement the first ACTF-BE meeting which will be held in August 2024 in a series of 46th HLTF-EI meetings in Luang Prabang, Laos, with support Indonesia.
The Blue Economy is Indonesia’s economic priority initiative in its Chairmanship of ASEAN 2023 and the ASEAN blue economy framework was agreed upon by the Heads of State at the 43rd ASEAN Summit on 6 September 2023 in Jakarta. (ATN)
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