Singapore’s economy contracted by 5.8% in the third quarter compared to a year ago — coming in better than initial estimates, the country’s Ministry of Trade and Industry said on Monday.
Already reeling from one of the worst Covid-19 outbreaks in Asia, the Philippines has been battered by multiple storms in recent weeks, displacing more than 300,000 residents and claiming the lives of 69 people.
Indonesian Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said that the number of unemployed people in the country increased by 2.67 million due to the COVID-19 pandemic, from 7.1 million to 9.77 million or from 5.23 percent to 7.07 percent.
Concluding a region‐to‐region free trade agreement (FTA) is an objective which the EU and ASEAN share, Ambassador of the EU to ASEAN Igor Driesmans asserted.
Member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum should boost the implementation of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) prioritising the creation of a condition conducive to the rejoining of the US, the biggest economy in APEC, said Hoo Ke Ping, an independent Malaysian politic and economic expert.
APEC's member economies and ASEAN member states have been urged to create linkages between the initiatives under both economic forums to reboot and kick-off the next phase of economic expansion.
Malaysia welcomes investments from China’s high technology, knowledge and capital intensive ventures, as such investments are instrumental in driving economic reformation amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, said the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA).
Asean has no reason to stand in the way of Hong Kong joining the world’s biggest free-trade deal, according to a director of the bloc’s secretariat who says accession will improve the flow of goods and services in the region.
<p>Time: November 2025<br /> By: WTO and International Trade Group, Legal Department – VCCI</p>
