Trade between Hong Kong and ASEAN will be boosted with yesterday’s implementation of the ASEAN-Hong Kong Free Trade Agreement (AHKFTA), building on the already solid economic foundation both parties share and countering the escalating United States (US)-China trade war.Five years in the making, the AHKFTA kicked off on Tuesday with reductions and eliminations of customs duties in Lao PDR, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam for Hong Kong imports.

In China, millions enter public transportation each day using smartphones, pay for breakfast with WeChat, and use an app to have lunch delivered hours later. They work at offices that leverage blockchain, Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics, and cloud computing. They book restaurants for dinner over the internet and late-night shop on the train.Much of this has been enabled by rising smartphone adoption.

Vietnam’s already strong economic outlook received another boost last week after Japanese investment bank Nomura named it the biggest winner from the United States (US) – China trade war, with its economy surging by 7.9 percent as a result of one year’s worth of trade diversions leading up to the first quarter of this year.The standoff has seen gross domestic product (GDP) gains in several other countries, though none of them are anywhere as close to Vietnam’s. Taiwan are the next bi

Coworking has turned into a global industry. According to Coworking Resources, which studied the growth of the trend, there are currently an estimated 19,000-office spaces and 1.7 million members around the world.Brad Neuberg coined the term after his San Francisco Coworking Space at Spiral Muse, back in 2005. Neuberg’s concept of collaborative space gained ground, catching the attention of entrepreneurs and freelancers across the United States (US) and later the world.

Pressures from population growth and an economic boom have increased demand for water in Vietnam, risking depletion of the valuable resource and threatening the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by up to six percent by 2035 – a year’s worth of GDP growth.About 8.5 million urban citizens in Vietnam lack access to clean water, and in rural areas, about 41 million dwellers do not have clean water supply.

The 2018 euphoria of the #MalaysiaBaru movement that followed the historic win of the new Alliance of Hope (Pakatan Harapan) coalition in the 14th general election (GE14) in Malaysia, have since died down.

While electric vehicles (EVs) continue to capture the attention of consumers in ASEAN, policies and subsidies in line with those found in countries leading the switch to EVs will make electric vehicles a more attractive proposition for the region. EVs, including hybrid electric cars, can drastically reduce carbon emissions released into the environment. Compared to conventional cars that release unhealthy amounts of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide into the

Food is synonymous with Southeast Asia. From the mouth-watering delicacies on the streets of Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and the Philippines – just to name a few – to the Michelin starred restaurants that serve fine dining quality cuisine with a dash of authentic local flavours.Yet, there is pressure on our food system to produce 70 percent more food to feed a population of 10 billion people globally by 2050.

There is little doubt about it, the fifth-generation cellular network frequency (5G) is in our near future. The recent ruckus surrounding the United States (US) and China-based multinational company Huawei should only serve to remind us of how inevitable that fact really is.While the reception for 5G has largely been welcoming, the technology does not come without its own set of complications.

Singapore’s status as the world’s most competitive economy in the IMD (International Institute for Management Development) World Competitiveness Rankings is not the only thing ASEAN can be proud of.While Singapore dethroned the United States (US) to stand atop the annual rankings for the first time since 2010 as Hong Kong remained second, the four other ASEAN countries in the list of 63 economies also performed strongly.