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Indonesia is moving away from mass tourism in favor of ecotourism and sports tourism and is bent on promoting nature and culture to tourists. Photo credit: iStock/kapulya.
News
13 April 2022

Why Southeast Asia Needs to Embrace Sustainable Tourism

As the region starts reviving travel, there is a growing consensus the pandemic is an opportunity to fix structural issues that have plagued tourism over the years and rebuild it greener.
Singapore achieved the highest implementation rate at more than 90%, followed by the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, which achieved high rates of more than 80%. Photo credit: iStock/Delpixart.
News
4 April 2022

ASEAN Makes Good Progress in Reducing Trade Costs, Says UN Survey

The average implementation rate in ASEAN is 79%, higher than the Asia–Pacific regional average of 64.9%.
Emerging COVID-19 variants is among the challenges Southeast Asia needs to sustain recovery. Photo credit: ADB.
News
25 March 2022

Southeast Asia Recovery Hinged on Addressing Global Headwinds

While Southeast Asia is showing signs of recovery in the wake of the pandemic, economies need to counter headwinds including tighter interest rates, widespread unemployment, weak investment prospects, emerging variants, and higher inflation.
ASEAN Catalytic Green Finance Facility 2021: Financing for a Green Recovery in Southeast Asia
Publication
22 March 2022

ASEAN Catalytic Green Finance Facility 2021: Financing for a Green Recovery in Southeast Asia

This report documents ACGF's progress and achievements from January to December 2021.
ASEAN has been trying to make tourism more sustainable noting that poorly planned and managed tourism has proven to have negative impacts on the host communities and their environment. Photo credit: iStock/last19.
Article
17 March 2022

What Southeast Asian Countries Need to Do to Shift to Sustainable Tourism

While the pandemic has upended tourism in Southeast Asia, it also offers a unique opportunity for the industry to build back greener.
Southeast Asia Rising from the Pandemic
Publication
16 March 2022

Southeast Asia Rising from the Pandemic

This publication examines how eight Southeast Asian countries dealt with and are now beginning to recover from COVID-19.
Solutions in Southeast Asia are closing the plastic loop and creating value from plastic waste. ​​​Photo credit: ADB.
Article
9 February 2022

No Time to Waste: Diving into Plastics Circularity

Circular solutions can help stem the rising tide of plastic waste in Southeast Asia and enable the region to build back bluer.
An UNCTAD study estimates that the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership will increase intraregional exports by $42 billion. Photo credit: ADB.
News
4 January 2022

Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Takes Effect on 1 January

Uneven benefits from tariff concessions seen for member states but still advantageous overall.
The assistance will increase actionable knowledge and greater understanding between ASEAN member countries on the transboundary implications of disasters. Photo credit: ADB.
News
22 December 2021

ADB Strengthens Cooperation with ASEAN on Disaster Risk Management

ADB to support a program to strengthen regional cooperation on understanding, reducing, and managing transboundary risks.
International visitor arrivals dropped 82% in 2020 from 2019 in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo credit: ADB.
News
20 December 2021

New ADB Facility to Help Southeast Asia Revive Tourism and Boost Sustainable, Inclusive Investments

The Southeast Asia Sustainable Tourism Facility will help countries identify and prepare environmentally sustainable tourism projects and catalyze private financing to support them.
Financing the Ocean Back to Health in Southeast Asia: Approaches for Mainstreaming Blue Finance
Publication
20 December 2021

Financing the Ocean Back to Health in Southeast Asia: Approaches for Mainstreaming Blue Finance

This report from the Asian Development Bank gives an overview of Southeast Asia's blue economy with a particular focus on the investment approaches, opportunities, and finance mechanisms that are available to promote and catalyze funds for a sustainable ocean economy.
Social Enterprises and Disability: Promoting Inclusion, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship in ASEAN
Publication
15 December 2021

Social Enterprises and Disability: Promoting Inclusion, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship in ASEAN

This policy brief highlights the role of social enterprises in promoting social impact and inclusion for people with disabilities in ASEAN.
ASEAN Green Future Phase 1 Reports—Further, Faster, Together
Publication
3 December 2021

ASEAN Green Future Phase 1 Reports—Further, Faster, Together

This series of reports looks at the decarbonization pathways for ASEAN member countries.
Thanks to the fund's support, ADB’s Southeast Asia Department has been able to publish a compendium of policy briefs to help countries recover from the pandemic. Photo credit: ADB.
Article
23 November 2021

How the Republic of Korea e-Asia and Knowledge Partnership Fund Is Helping Southeast Asian Countries amid COVID-19

An ADB-backed program sharing cutting-edge knowledge and best practices with senior government officials has helped countries accelerate recovery from COVID-19.
More consumers and businesses have adopted digital payment systems, such as e-wallets, which enable contactless transactions during the pandemic. Photo credit: ADB.
News
19 November 2021

Google-Led Study Sees a $1-Trillion Digital Economy in Southeast Asia by 2030

Research by Google, Temasek, and Bain shows the digital economy in Southeast Asia could grow beyond the pandemic to $1 trillion by 2030. The largest economy, Indonesia, could become twice the size of the regional market today.