Hong Kong – ASEAN states benefits through stronger ties through Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, ASEAN companies in Hong Kong on rise (with photos)
ASEAN states benefits through stronger ties through Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, ASEAN companies in Hong Kong on rise (with photos)
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Invest Hong Kong (InvestHK) today (February 29) hosted the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Community Spring Reception for the ASEAN business community.
Nearly 300 representatives from ASEAN consulates, chambers of commerce and companies from Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Laos, the Philippines, Thailand, Myanmar, and Cambodia joined the celebration.
The Director-General of Investment Promotion, Ms Alpha Lau, said, “Hong Kong is a two-way super connector – for businesses going into Mainland China, and for Chinese companies looking for expansion opportunities in Belt and Road Initiative countries. Hong Kong is an investor in many ASEAN projects, and a key service and fund-raising centre.”
Doyenne of ASEAN consulates and the Consul-General of Brunei Darussalam, Mrs Ainatol Zahayu Mohammad stated, “Through strategic partnerships and mutual support, the ASEAN-Hong Kong relations has paved the way for a thriving ecosystem of trade and investment.”
She said, “ASEAN member states could benefit from a potential increase in trade and investment as the regional bloc forge stronger ties with the world’s second largest economic powerhouse through Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.”
She added, “Where investment and business expansions are concerned, Hong Kong remains a preferred choice due to factors such as simple tax system, low tax rate, geographical location, free-port status and corruption-free government. With ASEAN and Hong Kong forging closer economic ties, the number of ASEAN companies setting up their offices in the financial hub has been on the rise.”
InvestHK will continue to focus on the ASEAN region to attract more strategic enterprises to do business in and through Hong Kong.
The ASEAN Disability Forum has produced the “Makassar Recommendations” to strengthen commitment to empowering persons, realizing inclusivity, and elevating the dignity of persons with disabilities. These Recommendations waere produced at the ASEAN High Level Forum on Disability Inclusive Development and Partnership beyond 2025 in Makassar on 10-12 October 2023.ASEAN Disability Forum 2023 produces Makassar Recommendations for Persons with Disabilities
The Recommendations were submitted after the participating ASEAN member countries led by Indonesia formulated a draft recommendation. The forum attended by around 200 participants, was one of a series of ASEAN Summits under the chairmanship of Indonesia. Apart from ASEAN member countries, there were also participants from the United States, England, Australia, as well as from the ASEAN Secretariat, various organizations for persons with disabilities, the ASEAN Disability Forum and various other partners.
The participants jointly formulated innovative strategies to realize socio-regional inclusiveness, empower persons with disabilities, and strengthen partnerships. The Forum hopes that ASEAN will become the epicentrum of sustainable growth of inclusiveness.
Following two days of deliberations, 10 recommendations were finally produced and named the “Makassar Recommendations”. These recommendations were read out by Commissioner of the National Commission on Disabilities (KND) Eka Pratama before the closing of the forum on Wednesday, 11 October 2023.
The Makassar Recommendations (10):
First, accelerating the implementation of the ASEAN Enabling Masterplan 2025 by mainstreaming the rights of persons with disabilities in ASEAN cooperation.
Second, further support the review and report on the implementation of the ASEAN Enabling Masterpan 2025 by including the participation of persons with disabilities.
Third, ensuring disability inclusive development as a fundamental part of the ASEAN Community Vision 2045.
Fourth, encouraging ASEAN Dialogue Partners to mainstream empowerment and rights of persons with disabilities through collaboration with ASEAN, including in providing disability inclusive infrastructure.
Fifth, provide more innovative social welfare and development policies to empower and protect the rights of persons with disabilities.
Sixth, increase joint efforts to ensure equal participation and access for persons with disabilities in public services and eliminate barriers to stigma and discrimination such as education, health, employment.
Seventh, strengthen efforts to provide better and more inclusive disability data.
Eighth, strengthening access to supporting technology based on appropriate needs to increase access to inclusive education, health interventions, employment, and entrepreneurship.
Ninth, strengthens public understanding and awareness regarding persons with disabilities and their rights, as well as countering negative perceptions, and encouraging mutual respect and understanding.
Tenth, encourages the business sector to commit to promoting and implementing disability-inclusive business models and value chains, as well as supporting better access for persons with disabilities to employment, including as entrepreneurs.
Besides conveying 10 recommendations, participants from ASEAN countries also expressed their appreciation to Indonesian government, especially Ministry of Social Affairs for conducting ASEAN High Level Forum.
Disability Inclusive
In her closing speech, Minister of Social Affairs Tri Rismaharini said that disability inclusion is an approach, a perspective that needs to become mainstream in all sectors, including education, health, employment, political-security, trade and investment.
“Disability inclusive development requires collaboration and not working separately. The government, private sector and organizations of persons with disabilities must synergize and work together,” said the Minister.
The Minister also emphasized the need to strengthen the availability of disability data, so that appropriate policies and interventions can be made. Minister of Social Affairs also emphasized that entrepreneurship and advancing technology and innovation are real efforts to empower persons with disabilities and increase their independence.
No less important, the Minister emphasized, “All parties must work together to increase public awareness so that people do not see disability as a handicap. Society will see that persons with disabilities can also contribute and play an important role in society.”
Tendi Gunawan of the International Labor Organization (ILO) Jakarta said that currently there is still employment discrimination against persons with disabilities. However, if given the opportunity, persons with disabilities also have the same abilities.
Angkie Yudistia, Special Staff to the President of the Republic of Indonesia, said that all persons with disabilities can live independently. “It remains for all parties to work together to provide opportunities and trust for persons with disabilities to work,” she said.
Protection and fulfilment of the rights of persons with disabilities in ASEAN are carried out comprehensively, including education, health, employment opportunities, and social protection. This comprehensive treatment is needed so that persons with disabilities can be independent and, at the same time, increase their dignity. This is one of the main issues that emerged in the ASEAN High-Level Forum on Disability Inclusive Development and Partnership beyond 2025. This international event, taking place in Makassar from 10-12 October 2023, is attended by 13 representatives of countries from ASEAN, observers, and representatives of other countries. The participants in this forum consist of Ministers and ASEAN Senior Officials who are responsible for social welfare and development in related sectoral bodies, ASEAN affiliated entities and partners. AHLF 2023 is one of a series of ASEAN Summits under the chairmanship of Indonesia. A number of speakers appeared on the first day of AHLF who focused on identifying challenges in ASEAN to strengthen disability inclusive development. Various issues and lessons learned from the impact of the pandemic on the lives of persons with disabilities are also discussed. In her opening remarks, Minister of Social Affairs Tri Rismaharini said that disability is not only an issue in ASEAN, but also a global issue because the number of persons with disabilities is quite large. In ASEAN, there are around 62 million persons with disabilities. Meanwhile, in Indonesia, there are around 22.9 million. For this reason, AHLF invited participants from the United States, England and Australia to see how ASEAN countries have tried to handle disabilities well while discussing and exchanging experiences. “We hope that through this AHLF, the handling of disabilities in ASEAN can be even better in the future,” said the Social Affairs Minister in front of the media after the opening session in Makassar on Tuesday (10/10). Present at the meeting, Chairman of Commission VIII of the House of Representatives, Ashabul Kahfi said that his party appreciated the steps of the Ministry of Social Affairs in organizing AHLF. In Law Number 8 of 2016 on Persons with Disabilities, the government is encouraged to collaborate with many parties to provide better services for persons with disabilities. This service is very important so that persons with disabilities can be independent and at the same time raise the value and dignity of persons with disabilities. “The Ministry of Social Affairs, so far, has paid close attention to the rights of persons with disabilities. “Of the budget of around IDR 80 trillion, part of it is used to empower persons with disabilities,” she said. Fulfilling disability rights is an effort to realize Indonesia’s human development design where no one is left behind, including those with disabilities. The Deputy conveyed this statement to the Coordination of Social Welfare Improvement, Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture, Prof. Nunung Nuryartono. According to him, the Ministry of Social Affairs has designed many programs so that persons with disabilities can get out of extreme poverty. “The President has declared that there will be no more extreme poverty in 2024. “That is our common target,” said Nunung. Meanwhile, Chairman of the Indonesian Association of Persons with Disabilities, Norman Yulian, on the same occasion, appreciated the seriousness of the government, especially the Ministry of Social Affairs, in realizing an inclusive and disability-friendly Indonesia. The government has also tried in various ways to create an inclusive Indonesia, including for persons with disabilities, both in the education and employment sectors. “We hope that through AHLF we can design a master plan for handling disabilities for the ASEAN region,” said Norman. Regarding the event in Makassar, the Minister of Social Affairs said that the presence of participants from various countries was also used to promote Indonesia’s unique and very diverse tourism. Tourism destinations in South Sulawesi are unique because they relate to human civilization. “This tourism potential is rare and extraordinary, so it should be promoted worldwide,” said Minister Risma. It is not easy to optimize tourism destinations for persons with disabilities because the government must prepare the infrastructure. However, this can be done by Indonesia. The tourism destinations that the AHLF delegation will visit are very friendly to persons with disabilities. “From design to construction, everything is done by persons with disabilities so that it suits their needs. “This step is also to show that they are actually capable if given the opportunity,” Minister Risma said. Social Ministry of the Republic of Indonesia Indonesia identified cooperation projects worth US$32 billion through business matching activities carried out during the ASEAN-Indo-Pacific Forum (AIPF), held on September 5-6. As the organizer of the AIPF, which is the flagship event of the 43rd ASEAN Summit, Indonesia is also seeking cooperation for projects from other countries with a total value of US$810 million. “Although those (cooperation projects) had not been able to be finalized at today’s meeting, we hope the business matching will be able to boost cooperation and real understanding of the investment needs expected by each country,” Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Pahala Mansury said in a press conference about the AIPF in Jakarta on Wednesday (6 September 2023). The business matching activities involved around 185 domestic and international investors, including PT Bank Mandiri Tbk, Bank Permata, Bank SBI Indonesia, Bank CCB Indonesia, PT Bank Jawa Barat, PT Astra Infrastruktur, PT Amman Mineral Tbk, Dian Swastatika Sentosa, AIIB, Standard Chartered, Sumitomo (SMBC), Commerzbank, ACWA (Saudi Arabia), EDF Energy (France), KEPCO (South Korea), IGNIS (Spain), China Railway Corporation, Sinohydro, China State Construction Engineering, Siemens (Germany), Inpex Geothermal (Japan), British Columbia (Canada) and Actis (the UK). The business sectors promoted through the AIPF included the development of new and renewable energy, hydrogen, ammonia, alumina refinery, battery supply chains, toll road infrastructure, and ports. Indonesia put more focus on cooperation with international partners for strategic projects in the fields of energy and oil and gas (five projects), toll-road (nine projects), ports (five projects), health (six projects), fertilizer (three projects), infrastructure (ten projects), tourism (nine projects) and electric vehicle battery ecosystem and supply chains (three projects). According to Vice Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Rosan Roeslani, the sectors that attracted many investors’ interest are green energy and electric vehicle battery ecosystem. “There were also many who wanted to participate in the digitalization sector because they could see that there is a lot of our people’s potential that has not been reached by formal financing,” he said. He mentioned that some of the largest SOEs in Indonesia, such as Pertamina, Pupuk Indonesia, PLN, Pelindo, Jasa Marga, MIND ID, and Injourney also participated in the AIPF. Also participated The National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), which could become a platform to support the acceleration of investment for several infrastructure projects such as Demak-Tuban, Tuban-Gresik, Tasikmalaya-Gedebage-Ciamis toll roads and the Jatiluhur Drinking Water Supply System. ASEAN member states such as Brunei, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines presented potential projects in the telecommunications and infrastructure sectors. ASEAN state members’ leaders, namely President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong, the Head of Delegation of the Kingdom of Thailand Sarun Charoensuwan, the Prime Minister of Viet Nam Pham Minh Chinh, the Prime Minister of Lao PDR Sonexay Siphandone, the Sultan of Brunei Darussalam Hassanal Bolkiah, the Prime Minister of Cambodia Hun Manet, the Prime Minister of Malaysia Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim, and the Prime Minister of Timor Leste Xanana Gusmao were also present. Three world leaders were also present as keynote speakers in the leaders talk session, namely Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Mansury said that those world leaders emphasized that the priority going forward for the strategic partnership with ASEAN will focus on sustainable cooperation sectors, such as the development of clean energy, innovative and sustainable financing, and the development of green infrastructure. Mansury said that those leaders emphasized that the priority going forward for the strategic partnership with ASEAN will focus on sustainable cooperation sectors, such as the development of clean energy, innovative and sustainable financing, and the development of green infrastructure. For more information, please contact: Through the ASEAN-Indo-Pacific Forum (AIPF) held in Jakarta on 5-6 September 2023 as the flagship event of the 43rd ASEAN Summit, Indonesia showcased 93 cooperation projects worth US$38.2 billion and 73 potential projects worth US$17.8 billion, to encourage cooperation among ASEAN member countries and its partners in the Indo-Pacific region. “AIPF is expected to present the habit of cooperating and building together among ASEAN countries in the Indo-Pacific,” Pahala said during a press briefing after the forum’s opening in Jakarta on Tuesday. The discussions and business-matching agenda during the two-day forum focus4d on three primary areas of cooperation, including green infrastructure and resilient supply chains, innovative sustainable financing, digital transformation and creative economy. Those sectors, he said, are expected to be new sources of growth in the ASEAN – which is estimated to grow by 4.5 percent this year and the next, according to IMF. As part of Indonesia’s ASEAN chairmanship, the AIPF has been held as a platform for promoting constructive dialogue, and concrete collaboration between SOEs and the private sector. “ASEAN is the future and epicentrum of growth. It plays a significant role in the Indo-Pacific region,” SOEs Deputy Minister Rosan Roeslani stated. From the Indonesian side, the country offers some cooperation in the development of an alumunium shelter worth USD1.8 billion, the development of Benoa Port in Bali worth USD4.3 billion, as well as a project of a fertilizer factory, toll road, and special economic zone in Sanur, Bali. During the AIPF, Indonesia also promotes cooperation in green infrastructure and sustainable financing in developing the New Capital Nusantara mega-project in East Kalimantan. AIPF was inspired by the ASEAN Outlook on Indo-Pacific (AOIP) initiated by Indonesia and adopted by ASEAN member countries in 2019. It aims to strengthen an inclusive regional architecture, encourage collaboration, strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation, and take the existing opportunities in the Indo-Pacific region. AIPF is also aligned with the theme of this year’s ASEAN Summit: making ASEAN the epicenter of growth while maintaining peace, security, stability, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific. The ASEAN region is considered to have sufficient capital to become the center of the world’s economic growth, with a collective gross domestic product (GDP) of US$ 3.3 trillion in 2021. For more information, please contact: Please visit: ASEAN High-Level Forum 2023: Disability Inclusive Development and Partnership beyond 2025
Topic: Press release summaryASEAN Summit 2023: Indonesia identifies cooperation projects worth US$32 billion through AIPF
Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Pahala Nugraha Mansury shared a presentation on the Indonesia’s Plan to Develop Green Infrastructure on the second day of ASEAN-Indo-Pacific Forum (AIPF) at Mulia Hotel, Wednesday (6/9/2023). [Image: Media Center KTT ASEAN 2023/Galih Pradipta/aww.]
Usman Kansong,
Director General of Information and Public Communication
Ministry of Communication and Information, Indonesia
Topic: Press release summaryASEAN Summit 2023: Indonesia highlights Indo-Pacific potential for economic cooperation
With a contribution of 64 percent to global economic growth, the Indo-Pacific is considered a strategic region where cooperation should be promoted instead of geopolitical rivalries and conflict, according to Vice Foreign Minister Pahala Nugraha Mansury.
Usman Kansong, Tel. +62-816785320
Director General of Information and Public Communication
Ministry of Communication and Information, Indonesia
http://asean2023.id,
https://infopublik.id/kategori/asean-2023,
https://indonesia.go.id/kategori/ragam-asean-2023
Topic: Government
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