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Asean Insights Content

The signing of the Declaration on the Admission of Timor-Leste into ASEAN took place at the opening ceremony of the 47th ASEAN Summits and Related Summits on 26 October 2025 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo credit: ASEAN Secretariat.
News
11 November 2025

Timor-Leste Joins ASEAN

Accession to ASEAN will unlock new opportunities in trade, investment, and private sector development.
Event
5 November 2025

Scaling What Works: Private Sector Development as Catalyst for Growth in Southeast Asia

This webinar explores how ADB is strengthening private sector development and capital mobilization across Southeast Asia.
Decarbonising ASEAN's Hard to Abate and High Emitting Sectors: Transition Finance, Technologies, and Policy Approaches
Publication
4 November 2025

Decarbonising ASEAN's Hard to Abate and High Emitting Sectors: Transition Finance, Technologies, and Policy Approaches

The joint report by ERIA, ADB, and METI examines the current landscape, identifies challenges, and highlights emerging practices for mobilizing transition finance within the region's unique energy, financial, and industrial contexts.
Event
20 October 2025

Leveraging Carbon Finance for Mobilizing Private Capital in Southeast Asia

The webinar explores the challenges and opportunities for countries in Southeast Asia in leveraging international carbon markets to pursue decarbonization pathways.
Critical minerals include rare earths for wind turbines and electric vehicle motors. Photo credit: ADB.
News
17 October 2025

ASEAN Adopts Long-Term Vision for Sustainable Minerals Development

Southeast Asia is a major producer and refiner of minerals that are critical to the region's transition to a low-carbon economy.
Busan is one of the pilot smart cities in the Republic of Korea that is integrating smart tourism services in urban planning. Photo credit: iStock/Anney Lier.
News
7 October 2025

Lessons from Busan: How Smart Tourism Ecosystems Enhance Sustainability and Resilience

Mid-career officials from BIMP-EAGA, IMT-GT, and GMS gathered in Busan in the Republic of Korea to share knowledge and collaborate on smart tourism ecosystems.
Achieving the ASEAN Power Grid vision by 2045 is estimated to require $764 billion in generation and transmission investments. Photo credit: ADB.
News
1 October 2025

ADB, World Bank Back ASEAN Power Grid Financing Initiative

A dedicated coordination mechanism will mobilize financing and provide technical support.
The Independent High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance estimates that $6.3 trillion–$6.7 trillion in global investment is required annually by 2030 to deliver the Paris Agreement. Photo credit: ADB.
Article
24 September 2025

Climate Risks and Fiscal Health: Three Takeaways for Southeast Asia

With enhanced tools, inter-agency coordination, and capacity building, finance ministries can significantly accelerate the development of climate-resilient fiscal systems.
Trade integration in Asia and the Pacific is now comparable to that of the European Union plus the United Kingdom. Photo credit: ADB.
News
13 August 2025

Southeast Asia Leads Regional Integration in Asia as Subregional Programs Become More Integrated—ADB

Robust trade networks, solid financial linkages, and substantial movement of people across Asia credited for Southeast Asia's lead in regional integration.
More than 90% of the businesses in BIMP-EAGA are comprised of MSMEs, making them a key growth engine. Photo credit: ADB.
Article
28 July 2025

Developing Growth Pathways for MSMEs in BIMP-EAGA

The cooperation program strives to enhance MSME competitiveness, specialization, and innovation through capacity building, market access, and digital tools.
The region is expected to become the 4th largest economy by 2050, with the industrial sector contributing 37.5%, or more than one-third, of the region’s economy. Photo credit: iStock/EyeEm Mobile GmbH.
News
9 July 2025

ASEAN to Catalyze High-Impact Industrial Projects

Favorable macro-trends are creating an opportunity for ASEAN to accelerate industrial cooperation through regional complementarity.
ASEAN needs $3.7 trillion to $6.7 trillion in green investments. Setting up a regional enewable energy certificate system is expected to increase investments in renewable energy and help realize the ASEAN Power Grid vision of a fully integrated system by supporting cross-border electricity trade. Photo credit: ADB.
Article
2 July 2025

Harnessing the Potential of Renewable Energy Certificates to Finance ASEAN’s Energy Transition

A project supported by the BIMP-EAGA–Republic of Korea Fund provides a conceptual framework for creating a regional market.
Light and sound show at Gardens by the Bay. Singapore serves as the benchmark for smart destinations in the region because of its high level of digitalization. Photo credit: iStock/kitzcorner.
Article
25 June 2025

Why Smart Destinations Are More Sustainable

Digitalization can transform the whole tourism value chain and enhance tourism’s contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals.
About 97% of deep tech ventures strive to meet at least one of the SDGs, says a new report. Photo credit: iStock/Siam Virachitevin.
Article
21 May 2025

Unlocking Deep Tech’s Potential for Sustainable Development in ASEAN+3

Strengthening the overall ecosystem should be a priority while taking into account the disparities in market, infrastructure, human capital, and technology creation.
Building Supply Chain Resilience: Insights Into Greening Value Chains for ASEAN—A Collective Intelligence Playbook cover.
Publication
19 May 2025

Building Supply Chain Resilience: Insights Into Greening Value Chains for ASEAN—A Collective Intelligence Playbook

This publication shares insights from Malaysia on ways of supporting businesses—particularly SMEs—to accelerate decarbonization and strengthen supply chain resilience.