Nazir appointed inaugural chair of WEF’s ASEAN Regional Business Council

HANOI: CIMB Group chairman Datuk Sri Nazir Razak has been appointed the inaugural chair of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Regional Business Council ( RBC) launched on Tuesday.

Through the RBC, 55 heads of major companies have joined forces to promote public-private cooperation on the most pressing issues facing Southeast Asia.

The RBC - launched at the WEF’s Mekong Region Meeting in Hanoi - is made up of 25 Asean businesses and 30 global companies, who will focus on areas such as building infrastructure, promoting crossborder trade and investment in Asean, developing a digital economy, examining the future of jobs and industry in the region, and championing the principles of inclusive growth.

“I am deeply honoured to have been appointed the first chairperson of the WEF’s Asean RBC. Together with my fellow committee members, the RBC will strive to give its best towards enhancing public-private partnership to uplift Asean’s socio- economic progress, as many of the biggest challenges in Asean can be overcome by getting business and government working well together.

“WEF – given its deep relationships with business, governments, international organizations, academia and subject-matter experts – is also a great platform for Asean companies to better capitalise on opportunities to collaborate and engage with Asean governments, as well as with the rest of the world,” Nazir said at WEF’s press conference in Hanoi.

Among the first initiatives to be launched by RBC in 2017 is a strategic infrastructure programme that promotes the concept of “blended finance” through both public and private capital. Asean has a large infrastructure deficit, which cannot be addressed through public investment alone.

Blended finance harnesses official development assistance to mitigate project risks, making it more palatable for private capital providers to be involved. Another priority project will be promoting small and medium- sized enterprises to help them achieve regional scale and become the next generation of Asean-level corporates.

The RBC Steering Committee comprises several leading corporate leaders including James Riady ( Lippo Group), Patrick Walujo ( Northstar), Don Lam ( VinaCapital), Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar ( Khazanah Nasional), Tan Sri Tony Fernandes (AirAsia), Jaime Zobel Ayala (Ayala Corporation), Tevin Vongvanich ( PTT) and Tessie Sy- Coson ( SM Investments).

The WEF has been operating in South- east Asia for 25 years, and has achieved a number of public-private project successes like Grow Asia in 2014, a US$ 10 million-initiative that brings together governments, smallholder farmers and their buyers to improve productivity and profitability by adopting better farming techniques and enhancing supplychain efficiency.