OECD to Launch New Southeast Asia Program

By Kathryn Tinker

Street salesman in Indonesia. OECD's launch of a Southeast Asia program will include a focus on development of human resources. Source: mario_opal's flickr photostream, used under a creative commons license.

Street salesman in Jakarta, Indonesia. OECD’s launch of a Southeast Asia program will include a focus on development of human resources. Source: mario_opal’s flickr photostream, used under a creative commons license.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) will launch its new Southeast Asia program in Jakarta, Indonesia, in May 2014. The main goal of the program is to foster regional integration, adding to current efforts in the region such as the U.S.-ASEAN Expanded Economic Engagement (E3) Initiative, a U.S.-led framework designed to expand trade and investment ties between the United States and ASEAN.

The key issues OECD will focus on in Southeast Asia are trade facilitation, investment issues, regulatory reform, and human resources development, according to Marcos Bonturi, OECD’s director of global relations. In order to achieve these goals, OECD will work with the ASEAN Secretariat as well as individual countries, bringing in experts from OECD countries to meet with representatives of ASEAN member states. In addition, OECD will produce investment policy reviews focused on Southeast Asia that will include analyses of the political and investment climates, as well as policy recommendations.

The United States also supports the process of ASEAN regional integration, in an effort to promote U.S.-ASEAN commercial and investment ties. Currently the United States’ fourth largest trading partner, ASEAN has emerged as an important engine for global economic growth, attracting $111.4 billion in foreign investment in 2012, almost equal to China’s foreign direct investment inflows of $121.1 billion. Investment in ASEAN is expected to grow further as the planned ASEAN Economic Community comes into force in 2015.

OECD’s decision to develop a new ASEAN initiative is significant because it highlights the economic importance – and promise – of Southeast Asia. The OECD Southeast Asia program, which is expected to build on and help strengthen existing regional structures, has the potential to play a constructive role in promoting high-standard trade and investment regulations in Southeast Asia.

Ms. Kathryn Tinker is a researcher with the Sumitro Chair for Southeast Asia Studies at CSIS.

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