SINGAPORE (Oct 1): Digital and financial integration will help put the world on a higher growth trajectory over the next 10 to 15 years.
It will also enable the world become more integrated than it is now, said Minister for Trade and industry Chan Chun Sing at the Digitize ASEAN forum on Monday.
Drawing reference from history, Chan said today’s world is at the same crossroads as in the 1920s when greater integration required adjustments on each and everyone’s part.
If greater integration is not achieved by each country, business and worker, the world in future would be much more fragmented and polarised than what it is today, warned Chan.
But if successful, such integration will ensure the optimisation of supply chains, product chains and distribution levels, both locally and regionally.
Chan said technology will enable the 600 million-strong integrated Asean market to see stronger growth. It is also an effective way for the region to overcome the adverse effects of the ongoing US-China trade war.
“US and China make up only a third of global GDP. We must not forget those who make up the other two thirds have the right and responsibility to remain integrated,” says Chan.
To this end, Singapore is working with like-minded companies to establish international approaches to support the digital economy in the areas of – facilitating data flows, setting standards and helping businesses seize opportunities.
This multi-pronged approach ensures that everyone has a part to play in making the city-state digitally ready.
“We do not believe that the government alone should be pushing out a suite of solutions to the SMEs. We believe that the more effective way for us to do this is to find intermediaries that can help partner us in pushing out this suite of services to the SMEs,” says Chan.
These intermediaries could include tech companies or financial institutions like banks that are in a position to lend a helping hand to start-ups and SMEs, because of their capabilities in technology, digitalisation and financing.
Regionally, there are initiatives such as the ASEAN Framework on Digital Data Governance, which was developed last year, and the recently established ASEAN Digital Integration Framework Action Plan for 2017-2025. These will help develop proper standards and procedures for the creation and adoption of technology.
Dr Robert Yap, Chairman of the ASEAN Business Advisory Council, who also spoke at the forum, noted that collaboration among governments in Asean is important in “providing conducive environments for the adoption of advanced technologies” such as cyber-physical systems, internet of things, cloud computing, cognitive computing and artificial intelligence.
However, he says “heartware readiness” through human development and empowerment is needed since “developing digital business capabilities goes beyond having the latest hardware”.
