Singapore to focus on innovation, digital economy while chairing ASEAN: official

SINGAPORE, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Singapore, as this year's ASEAN chairman, will make efforts toward positioning ASEAN as a region of seamless economic activities, especially in the fields of innovation and digital economy, a senior Singaporean official said here Wednesday.

Koh Poh Koon, senior minister of state for the Ministry of Trade and Industry, made the remarks while addressing the ASEAN Outlook Conference, which was hosted by the Singapore Business Federation and ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN BAC).

In this regard, Singapore will work with other ASEAN member states to strengthen interconnetivity and promote e-commerce growth, seek to pursue trade facilitation within ASEAN to foster the internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises, deepen services and trade and reduce the impediments to investment and plan to reaffirm and forge stronger ties with ASEAN's partners, according to the senior minister.

Robert Yap, chairman of ASEAN BAC, noted that ASEAN is an important economic region with a combined GDP of 2.6 trillion U.S. dollars, the seventh-largest economy in the world.

However, ASEAN is now influenced by new technologies and new business models which have been disrupting many traditional businesses and creating new ones, he cautioned.

According to him, companies doing businesses in the region would have to face the music and find ways to survive and prosper. Enditem