ASEAN to Commence Talks Pertaining to Digital Economy

The 55th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Ministers (AEM) meeting, held recently in Semarang, Indonesia, included a regional digital economy pact on the agenda. The meeting agreed to conduct research on the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA). According to an ASEAN joint statement, it will pave the way for members to begin negotiating the pact.

It is expected that the DEFA negotiations will be officially launched at the 23rd ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) council meeting and will be officially acknowledged by ASEAN leaders at the 43rd ASEAN Summit in Jakarta in September.

According to Boston Consulting Group projections, the ASEAN region's digital economy will triple by the end of the decade. Another ASEAN statement stated that progressive DEFA rules would double this contribution to $2 trillion.

At the meeting, the ASEAN Services Facilitation Framework was also completed. It aims to create a more transparent and predictable business environment for companies in the region to engage in cross-border trade in services. There was also the launch of a new ASEAN Tariff Finder.

ASEAN ministers also signed a memorandum of understanding with the World Intellectual Property Organisation to help regional businesses better leverage and monetize their intellectual property (IP). One such initiative was a single-stop platform for businesses to search ASEAN IP data.