Rapid economic development over the past two decades has transformed the Southeast Asian region to the point where it is able to participate in international production networks which allows more exports of manufactured products, textiles and other primary high-quality valued-added products.

Last week, a warehouse stocked with nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate blew up, laying waste to the port of Beirut and ripping through much of the rest of the Lebanese capital. At least 137 people were killed, thousands were wounded, and hundreds of thousands were rendered homeless.

“The baby is dead. We can’t assist you here.” By the time she heard these devastating words, the pregnant Yasmelis Casanova had endured a long and painful journey, passing through multiple COVID-19 checkpoints, to the hospital in Caracas, Venezuela. She bled for hours without treatment.

COVID-19 has claimed more than 700,000 lives, infected over 19 million people, and decimated rich and poor economies alike. But, even as most of the world faces unprecedented recession, policy responses differ sharply. The contrast between Europe and Asia is a case in point.Both regions are undoubtedly facing serious economic hardship. The European Commission (EC) expects the eurozone economy – which grew by 1.3 percent in 2019 – to contract by 8.7 percent this year.

On 3 August, President Duterte issued a directive disallowing the Philippines from joining naval/maritime exercises and drills of other countries like the United States (US) in the South China Sea (SCS) to reduce tensions in the disputed waters.

The COVID-19 pandemic which is expected to be prolonged and drawn out at least until a vaccine is readily available, has rekindled the call for ASEAN, a market of nearly 700 million people and growing middle class, to further forge and foster regional integration. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic has also been a catalyst and impetus in exposing the critical need for business and commerce to further digitalise and explore usage of new technologies. The one geo-economic

COVID-19 has become a severe stress test for countries around the world. From supply-chain management and health-care capacity to regulatory reform and economic stimulus, the pandemic has mercilessly punished governments that did not – or could not – adapt quickly. The virus has also pulled back the curtain on one of this century’s most important contests: the rivalry between the United States (US) and China for supremacy in artificial intelligence (AI).

Last month, the vaccine advocacy group 1Day Sooner published an open letter to Francis Collins, Director of the United States (US) National Institutes of Health, urging regulators to permit and begin to prepare for “human challenge” vaccine trials in order to end the COVID-19 pandemic as soon as possible.In these trials, fully informed volunteers would be injected with potential vaccines (or with a placebo) and then would be “challenged” by being intentionally exposed to SARS-CoV-2,

The importance of a reliable and widely accessible health-care system is never more apparent than during a pandemic. It is now painfully clear that countries cannot pursue economic development, and assume that the health system will develop in tandem.

Before COVID-19, spending on business travel totalled US$1.5 trillion a year, about 1.7 percent of world gross domestic product (GDP). Now it is down to a trickle, as countries have closed their borders and social distancing has taken hold. Planes have been grounded, hotels are closed, and executives are not earning frequent flier miles. Many travel and hospitality jobs are feeling the consequences.