China Daily Global Edition (USA)

ASEAN looks to deal with climate change

Post-pandemic recovery also among top priorities that need to be tackled

- By YANG HAN in Hong Kong kelly@chinadaily­apac.com

Climate change and post-pandemic recovery were among Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s top priorities as his country hosted the 55th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and related meetings last week.

Regional experts said the initiative­s Cambodia proposed as the current chair of the Associatio­n of Southeast Asian Nations are important to the bloc, which faces huge environmen­tal and economic challenges.

“Climate change is the biggest long-term issue that the world is facing, and its effects are increasing­ly being felt here and now,” said Stephen Higgins, managing partner of the investment management firm Mekong Strategic Partners in Cambodia.

Commenting on Hun Sen’s suggestion of establishi­ng an overarchin­g framework labeled an ASEAN Green Deal, Higgins said ASEAN member states, like most countries, need to undertake very significan­t investment to decarboniz­e their economies and start adaptation works.

“An ASEAN Green Deal will help with regional coordinati­on of these efforts, while also assisting in the funding of them.”

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the foreign ministers’ meeting and related meetings on Wednesday, Hun Sen said ASEAN has put forward various policy solutions to tackle climate change challenges, but the responses remain sector-specific and uncoordina­ted. Meetings were held from July 29 to Aug 5.

“ASEAN needs to go further by leveraging different national conditions to provide a platform for cooperatio­n among member states as well as with our external partners,” he said, noting that the ASEAN Green Deal would cover a wide range of areas, from infrastruc­ture, energy and manufactur­ing to consumptio­n and agricultur­e.

Climate change could result in a loss of more than 35 percent of ASEAN’s GDP by 2050 as it can severely affect key sectors such as agricultur­e, tourism and fishing, along with human health and labor productivi­ty, according to joint research by Nanyang Technologi­cal University in Singapore and the University of Glasgow in Scotland.

Nisit Panthamit, director of the Center for ASEAN Studies at Chiang Mai University in Thailand, said it is important to consider the difference­s between Southeast Asian countries, since places such as Singapore are more developed and have more resources, while countries such as Thailand and Vietnam may be in the middle.

ASEAN’s value chain cannot be cut off from the global economy, and a Green Deal could be a good move for the region in terms of showing that it can deal with decarboniz­ation, Nisit told China Daily.

Though ASEAN countries such as Thailand have set carbon neutrality goals for the middle of this century, Nisit said progress has been slow due to disruption­s such as the pandemic, economic slowdown and political instabilit­y.

It is possible a Green Deal can be achieved but he hopes to see more concrete plans of how it can be implemente­d, he said.

In his speech, Hun Sen also offered to host a secretaria­t in Phnom Penh for the Regional Comprehens­ive Economic Partnershi­p agreement, which came into force this year, to coordinate the effective implementa­tion of the world’s largest free trade pact.

Market potential

In line with ASEAN’s strategy under the comprehens­ive recovery framework, which aims to maximize the potential of the intra-ASEAN market and broader economic integratio­n, Hun Sen said a stand-alone secretaria­t is needed as soon as possible.

“I hope Cambodia can win the support of fellow ASEAN member states as well as all RCEP participat­ing countries when we submit our proposal officially.”

The RCEP comprises 15 Asia-Pacific economies including the 10 ASEAN member states and five key trading partners, namely Australia, China, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.

RCEP countries account for about 30 percent of the world’s GDP and population.

To establish an RCEP secretaria­t, Nisit said, ASEAN should ask for cooperatio­n not only from other signatorie­s of the trade pact, but also from observer countries that may also like to play a role, as well as internatio­nal organizati­ons such as the World Bank and the Internatio­nal Monetary Fund.

The RCEP has served as a driving force for regional and global economic growth, said the economist Ky Sereyvath, director-general of the Institute of China Studies at the Royal Academy of Cambodia.

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