Come and Join Us!!!
Due to the global Covid-19 pandemic and a thoughtful discussion on its implications, the ICoFA 2023 Secretariat has moved a step forward by deciding to hold conference fully online in 2023. This is the first time ever for ICoFA to be held virtually and we take this opportunity to welcome your virtual presentation and attendance at the conference. The conference is scheduled to be held from 15-16 March 2023. With specific objective on ASEAN Community Vision 2025, we are welcomes policy makers, industrial practitioners, researchers, number of the academic community as well other stakeholders from all over the world to engage in intellectual discourse on how the future ASEAN will be secured through SDG 2030. Thus, all of you cordially invited to participate in this conference as a virtual presenter or as an attendee! You may submit empirical and policy papers and case studies based on the thematic scope of the conference.
Introduction
ASEAN countries are diverse, with GDP per capita ranging from about USD1,297 in Myanmar, a lower-middle income country, to USD64,041 in Singapore, a high-income advanced economy (World Economic Outlook Database, IMF, April 2019). ASEAN marked its 50th anniversary in 2017 with relatively successful and prosperous development in five decades, with establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015 as one the key milestones as well as the achievements of Millennium Development Goals 2015.
Building on the past successes via Millennium Development Goals 2015, especially in areas such as poverty eradication, better health outcomes and quality education, ASEAN countries are poised to make a more inclusive progress towards the newly adopted development agenda of Sustainable Development Goals 2030 (SDG 2030), which cover a wider set of interlinked development objectives under its 17 goals.
The economic dynamism of the ASEAN region on the back of its strong income growth, continuous structural transformation and infrastructure improvements is expected to support sustainable development in the region. From the IMF Report (September 2018), most ASEAN countries, with their continued income growth and strong policy efforts, are on track to eradicate absolute poverty by 2030, while some of these countries are already doing well in terms of gender equality. Similarly, improvement in universal primary education completion is one of the key progress areas made by the majority of ASEAN countries.
Despite these achievements, challenges persist, hence, we need to ensure a more inclusive and environmentally sustainable development in the region. Income inequality remains relatively high in several countries, and the shift towards manufacturing has strained environmental sustainability in the region. Furthermore, the other remaining development challenges call for a more comprehensive and integrated approach via the intra-ASEAN initiatives.
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