ASEAN

by Jenny VAUGHAN / Joe Freeman Several Southeast Asian leaders snubbed a meeting with US officials on Monday after President Donald Trump decided not to attend a regional summit in Bangkok. Just three leaders from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) showed up to the session, along with a host of foreign ministers. Trump has been accused of …

by Thanaporn PROMYAMYAI / Dene-Hern Chen Southeast Asian leaders meet for a second day in Thailand on Sunday, hoping for a breakthrough in talks over the world’s largest trade deal to help throw off the torpor which has gripped the global economy since the US-China tariff war began. The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) opened its annual summit …

Earlier today (1 Nov), parliamentarians from across Southeast Asia called on their leaders to not overlook the most pressing challenges facing the region when they gather in Thailand for the ASEAN Summit this week. The 35th ASEAN Summit will be held from 2 – 4 November in Bangkok, but regional lawmakers are concerned that ASEAN leaders will once again fail …

Thailand may become the first country in Southeast Asia to legalise same-sex unions as the country’s parliament inches towards passing a draft Bill that will enable same-sex couples to enter civil partnerships, on the heels of Taiwan’s legalisation of same-sex marriages in May. Bloomberg reported today (28 Aug) that should the Bill be passed, same-sex couples in Thailand will obtain the …

iPrice Group, together with its partner App Annie Intelligence, recently updated its Map of E-commerce via the latest study to showcase the biggest developments in Singapore’s top e-commerce players based on their average quarterly traffic, mobile application ranking, social media followers, and number of staff. The study was conducted to keep track on the latest developments of the internet economy’s …

Thousands of refugees protested in Indonesia Tuesday, saying they had been stranded in the Southeast Asian nation for years because of Australia’s tighter border policies. Demonstrations were held in several cities including the capital Jakarta and Makassar on Sulawesi island where some 600 protesters demonstrated in front of the Australian consulate. They presented a letter to diplomats calling on Canberra …

Union Bank of the Philippines (UnionBank) recently became the first Philippine bank to successfully pilot blockchain-based remittance from Singapore to the Philippines.   This was done in partnership with OCBC Bank in Singapore, using the Adhara liquidity management and international payments platform.   Amid a continued push for financial inclusion for all Filipinos as aligned with the Philippine government’s mandate, …

Malaysia should impose an e-commerce tax against online businesses, given how their growth presently exceeds that of businesses utilising ‘traditional’ models such as physical retail stores, said Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Speaking to reporters after the 34th Asean Summit gala dinner on Sat (22 Jun), Mahathir said that governments have been collecting “less tax” as many brick-and-mortar stores have …

Despite being the fastest growing e-commerce region with over 62% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) growth over the last 3 years, delivery continues to be a challenge in Southeast Asia, a new survey by Parcel Perform and iPrice Group reveals. The survey was conducted with 80,000 e-commerce consumers across Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia by Parcel Perform, the leading …

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen have agreed to cease revisiting past issues in the spirit of preserving diplomatic relations between the two nations at this year’s Asean Summit, which took place in Bangkok last weekend. The prime ministers’ move took place in the aftermath of the diplomatic rift surrounding Mr Lee’s remarks regarding the …