New headquarters of ASEAN Secretariat (Photo: VNA) Tokyo (VNA) – The ASEAN – Japan Centre,the ASEAN Committee in Tokyo and the ASEAN Secretariat held a seminar onemerging opportunities and challenges in ASEAN in Tokyo on August 26.
Speaking at the event, ASEAN Deputy SecretaryGeneral Aladdin D.Rillo said the regional grouping is now the world’s fifthlargest economy with a total population of over 649 million people. During 2007– 2018, its total trade nearly doubled to over 2.7 trillion USD. Last year, itsmember states attracted 151.2 billion USD in foreign direct investment, 14.8percent of which was internal.
He said with an annual economic growth of nearly 5.5percent, ASEAN could surpass Japan to become the fourth largest economy by2025, behind China, India and the US.
Rillo also pointed out challenges faced by ASEANsuch as the fourth industrial revolution, trade tension among major powers andpopulation aging.
Notably, the US – China trade tension is negativelyaffecting the Southeast Asia. Specifically, five out of the six largestregional economies such as Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines andVietnam stalled in the first quarter of this year, he said.
Participants at the seminar also touched upon theageing of the population and the impact of the phenomenon on the socio-economicdevelopment of the ASEAN countries.-VNA
