'Asean must focus on delivering better lives for our people': PM Wong in Laos

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong spoke at the 44th and 45th Asean summits, both held on Oct. 9, 2024 in the Laotian capital Vientiane.

The summit was PM Wong’s first Asean summit, and he thanked his Asean counterparts for their warm welcome, particularly Laotian Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone.

During the 44th Summit, the plenary session, PM Wong addressed more intra-Asean concerns, including redoubling on common goals, areas of focus, and hastening economic integration.

His speech at the 45th Summit addressed his positions regarding Asean’s relationship with external partners and expressed his desire that Asean would continue to engage with all of its external partners.

Plenary session, digital and green economies

During the 44th Asean summit, PM Wong said that Asean had been critical to Southeast Asia's peace, stability, and growth, and reiterated that Asean would remain a cornerstone of Singapore's foreign policy.

PM Wong urged Asean to redouble its efforts in two areas, the digital and green economies.

Huge potential in Asean’s digital market

PM Wong expressed his belief in the “huge potential” of Asean’s digital market, an important enabler of Asean’s small and medium enterprises.

He urged for the conclusion of the Asean Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA) by the end of 2025.

But even as Asean sought to harness these new technologies, they needed to manage the risk of such technologies.

One initiative to do that was the Asean Guide on AI Governance and Ethics, which PM Wong said would facilitate the safe and trusted development of AI models across the region and could be used as a pathfinder.

This would enable Asean to work with others to shape global norms on AI.

Green economy and the Asean Power Grid

The second area of focus is the green economy, with PM Wong noting Asean’s need for growth, but with less emissions.

But to meet their emissions targets, the bloc needed to quickly transition to low carbon and renewable energy solutions, which they could do faster as Asean than as individual nations.

The Asean Power Grid (APG) in particular is a way to achieve sustainability goals, but required clear regulatory and commercial frameworks for cross-border energy trade.

Asean is developing a framework for subsea power cable, which referenced existing regional frameworks for fibre optic cables, due to be complete by the end of 2024.

The World Bank and Asian Development Bank have already committed to supporting the APG, and Wong urged his counterparts to leverage their interest with that of other external partners in order to bring in financing.

Peace, stability and integration

To succeed in those goals, Asean needs to ensure continued peace and stability in the region.

It previously did this by keeping the architecture of the region open and inclusive, and by engaging all external parties.

Such engagements should continue, and be substantive and mutually beneficial, so external partners could see value in engaging Asean on its own merits, and would have a stake in its shared success.

“Importantly, our partners must commit to inclusivity, respect for international law, and the peaceful resolution of disputes.”

The final key task that PM Wong spoke about at the 44th summit was how to effectively integrate Timor Leste, Asean's newest member.

Leaders had agreed to a roadmap for Timor Leste's accession to Asean, and the priority must be to fully support Timor Leste's efforts to fulfil that roadmap.

45th Summit and external partners

Where the 44th summit was more focused on Asean’s goals, PM Wong's speech at the 45th summit, the retreat session, was more focused on Asean's external partners.

PM Wong noted the more turbulent external environment, with wars in Europe and the Middle East, and superpower rivalry.

More countries were prioritising national security over economic efficiency and free trade, resulting in the fragmentation of the global economy.

PM Wong warned that South China Sea issues had a real risk of an accident spiralling into conflict.

For Asean, there were fundamental interests at stake, such as freedom of navigation and overflight, as well as peaceful dispute resolution in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The PM recounted the formation of the East Asia Summit at the end of the Cold War, which had a similarly uncertain geopolitical environment.

At the time, the EAS brought all major powers together, with the view that despite the stakeholders' differences of opinions and perspectives, it was better to have all the key players at the same table.

Continued focus and key principles

But Asean needs to ensure its continued relevance and effectiveness in this new geopolitical context, and the need to maintain Asean’s unity of purpose, despite its diversity of positions on regional and global issues.

The bloc should focus on certain key principles, such as focusing on the development of the region and delivering better lives for Southeast Asia’s peoples; the respect for international law and peaceful resolution of disputes; and active engagement of Asean's partners.

On the third point of active engagement, PM Wong said Asean's approach was not to have exclusive commitments with any single party, or even passive non-alignment, but instead active engagement of all Asean’s partners.

Furthermore, Asean should exercise its agency in convening power to bring key players together, with Asean at the centre.

Myanmar: Credibility at stake

PM Wong spoke about the tremendous challenge that the conflict in Myanmar represents, but called on Asean to maintain its position via the Five Point Consensus as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Asean could not afford to “go back to business as usual” and should maintain its positions on Myanmar especially on “Myanmar’s non-political representation at Summits and Foreign Ministers’ Meetings”.

“Asean’s credibility is at stake if we are unable to hold our position on Myanmar, especially if there has been no improvement to the situation on the ground.”

Top image via Ministry of Digital Development and Information

(MDDI)