At the sidelines of the 33rd ASEAN Summit, DTI Secretary Ramon M. Lopez spoke as a panelist along with Singapore Minister of Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing and Malaysia Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Darell Leiking at the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (ABIS) 2018 recently held in Singapore.

The discussion focused on NAVIGATING ASEAN’S ECONOMIC where panelists shared respective thoughts on how to press harder on economic integration and further trade liberalization within ASEAN and each government’s efforts to sustain growth momentum in the region amidst China-US trade tensions and rising protectionist sentiments.

ABIS 2018 comprised of two-day business conference revolving around the theme of “Building Tomorrow, Connecting Today” and has attracted more than 1,000 participants which included high-level government and business personalities from the region and beyond who are pivotal in elevating the economic growth in ASEAN.

The ABIS is an annual event simultaneously held with the ASEAN Summit and serves as a platform that enables thought leadership sharing by head of states, key policy makers and top business leaders about ASEAN’s business and investment landscape. ABIS 2018 was organized by the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN-BAC) and the Singapore Business Federation (SBF).♦

Date of Release: 22 November 2018