FINANCE Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III and finance ministers from across the Asean will be meeting with investors in Singapore to find ways of mobilizing private capital for infrastructure development in the region.
The Asean is the sixth-largest economy and collectively the third-largest in Asia, according to the Department of Finance (DOF).
Dominguez took part in the 8th World Bank-Singapore Infrastructure Summit ahead of the Asean Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’ Joint Meetings that started on Thursday.
Chaired this year by Singapore, the 2018 Asean Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’ and Related Meetings on April 5 and April 6 will focus discussions on enhancing the region’s resilience to natural disasters, as well as cybersecurity risks.
Dominguez will also join fellow finance ministers and Asean central bank governors at the regular meeting of the US-Asean Business Council to discuss innovations in digital finance, capital markets development and insurance.
The World Bank estimates that infrastructure needs of emerging economies in Asia require around $26 trillion until 2030, including $3.4 trillion worth of programs to mitigate the effects of climate change.
The Philippines chaired the Asean last year during its golden anniversary, and the 2017 sessions of the region’s finance ministers and central bank governors held at the Shangri-La Mactan Resort in Lapu-Lapu City.
The Asean was established on August 8, 1967, in Bangkok with five founding members the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. It has since expanded to include Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, the Lao PDR, Myanmar and Cambodia.
It established the Asean Economic Community, which officially commenced on December 31, 2015, to create a single market and production base within the region through the free flow of goods, skilled labor, services and investments among its 10 member-states.