Business

ASEAN leaders highlight opportunities in 4IR

Heads of state from across Southeast Asia on September 12 hailed the technological opportunities for the region in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).
ASEAN leaders highlight opportunities in 4IR ảnh 1Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, WEF Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab and heads of delegations to WEF ASEAN 2018 pose for group photos (Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – Heads of state from across Southeast Asia on September12 hailed the technological opportunities for the region in the FourthIndustrial Revolution (4IR).

The leaders areattending the World Economic Forum on ASEAN (WEF on ASEAN), themed “ASEAN4.0: Entrepreneurship and the Fourth Industry Revolution” that attracted theparticipation of over 1,000 delegates who are WEF members and representativesof businesses from around the world.

“The opportunities brought about by the 4IR areindeed enormous,” Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc told the openingplenary of the ongoing event in Hanoi. “The start-up atmosphere is trulypermeating throughout ASEAN,” he said.

  
ASEAN leaders highlight opportunities in 4IR ảnh 2Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc delivers a speech at WEF ASEAN 2018’s plenary session (Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA)
The Vietnamese government leader said ASEAN is a shining star among emerging market economies, with robust growth rates of almost 7 percent.  He emphasised the need to seize technological opportunities brought about by rapid technological growth. 

The PM added that, later today, he will proudly inaugurate a digital passenger transport service based on the 4.0 model – a collaboration between cutting-edge start-ups GoViet and GoJek, from Vietnam and Indonesia.
According to Prime Minister of Singapore LeeHsien Loong ASEAN member states are in a good position to take advantage of thenew opportunities that the 4IR can bring. 

“This Fourth Industrial Revolutionis upon us. The global economy is being transformed by new and far-reachingbreakthroughs in technologies,” Lee Hsien Loong noted. “ASEAN will become thefourth-largest economy in the world by 2020, after the United States, China andthe European Union.”
ASEAN leaders highlight opportunities in 4IR ảnh 3Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong delivers a speech at WEF ASEAN 2018’s plenary session (Photo: Lam Khanh/VNA)

Prajin Juntong, Thai Deputy PrimeMinister and Minister of Justice, said his country has implemented a “Thailand4.0” policy to shift its economic focus towards an innovation-driven economy.

“For Thailand, the 4IR represents abig turning point for the way we live and do our business. Technology is now anintegral part of society at all levels but also poses immense challenges forSMEs and marginal groups,” he said.

President of Indonesia Joko Widodo saidthere are at least four start-ups now valued at 1 billion USD each inIndonesia.

 “As our economies develop, they are drivenincreasingly not by natural resources, which are limited, but human talent,which is unlimited,” he said.
 
Across ASEAN, the effects of the technologicaltransformation will be keenly felt, particularly among the region’s youngdemographic, with 11,000 people entering the labour force each day.Acknowledging that digitalisation has become a new growth catalyst, CambodianPrime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said that while the technological frontierwill create positive change, it will also cause anxiety about job losses, asincreasing automation affects manual labour and ASEAN as a traditional factoryhub.

“We need to focus on education andskills training to address job losses and economic and social inequality,” hesaid, calling for regional initiatives to support research, talent incubationand entrepreneurial skills. 
 
Aung San Suu Kyi, State Counsellorof Myanmar, emphasized the technological leaps her country has achieved in thepast five years, citing the dramatic drop in the price of mobile phones as anexample. She also stressed that the Fourth Industrial Revolution should behuman-centric.

“Ourapproach to the Fourth Industrial Revolution is based on our belief in thecreativity, empathy and stewardship qualities of our people, especially theyoung,” she said.
 
Noting that collaborative advances in theregional market have been achieved, Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith urgedcontinued unity in an “evolving regional architecture to ensure that ASEANconnectivity grows.”
 
Founded in 1967, ASEAN groups together Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
On the back of rising purchasingpower of its 630 million citizens, the 10-member ASEAN has a collective GDP of 2.8trillion USD, making it the sixth-largest economy in the world.
ASEAN leaders highlight opportunities in 4IR ảnh 4WEF Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab delivers a speech at WEF ASEAN 2018’s plenary session (Photo: Lam Khanh/VNA)

Schwab Klaus Schwab, Founder andExecutive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, said: “The ASEAN way ofstriving for consensus among rival countries can serve, particularly duringthose times, as a good role model for our world”.

As the host country for 2018WEF-ASEAN, it is Vietnam's crucial responsibility to work together with WEF andASEAN members to discuss issues pertinent to their national development in themidst of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Such discourse shall help realizethe 2025 ASEAN Vision, in the interest and for the development of the entireregion at large and each country individually, thus contributing to the commonprosperity of the region and the world.

The WEF was established in1971 as a non-profit foundation and is headquartered in Geneva. The forumengages political, business, and other leaders to shape global, regional, andindustry agendas.-VNA
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