ASEAN economies should look to CEE to escape middle-income trap - ex-finance minister

4 min read Bambang Brodjonegoro, ADBI, ASEAN, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, CEE, FDI, EU, Poland, Czechia, Hungary, China, Japan, South Korea, World Bank, Prabowo Subianto, Nikkei Asia, Nickel, middle-income trap, steel

Bambang Brodjonegoro, dean of the ADB’s Tokyo-based think tank, said Southeast Asia’s largest middle-income economies are at risk of long-term stagnation as demographic advantages fade and productivity growth stalls.

Macron inks defence, aviation deals on SEA tour

2 min read ASEAN, Aviation, Corporate, Defence, Economy, Energy, EU, Politics, Singapore, Dassault, Indo-Pacific Strategy, Indonesia, Lawrence Wong, Macron, Rafale, Thales, To Lam, VietJet, Vietnam

French President Emmanuel Macron called France “a power that respects its partners” during his 25-29 May tour of Vietnam, Indonesia and Singapore, when he promoted his country as a strategic partner for Southeast Asia (SEA) amid growing US-China rivalry. The trip focused on trade, defence and clean energy cooperation, as

ESG reporting faces regulatory expansion mixed with political resistance in 2025

2 min read Analysis, ASEAN, Corporate, e-commerce, Energy, ESG, EU, Politics, Singapore

The landscape of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting is shifting in 2025 as regulatory mandates grow more stringent globally, even while political pushback intensifies in parts of the world, and most notably the US. The regulatory trend is clear. Governments and oversight bodies are moving to standardise and enforce