The UK-ASEAN Business Council and the ASEAN Business Advisory Council in partnership with the UK’s Infrastructure and Projects Authority are delighted to co-host a roundtable on ‘ASEAN’s Sustainable Infrastructure Needs’ featuring senior figures from the UK and ASEAN.

The Asian Development Bank notes that ASEAN’s annual infrastructure investment needs were estimated to be £151 billion before the pandemic hit, with the gap likely to have widened due to the pandemic’s economic impact. Looking ahead, ASEAN’s ‘consuming class’ is set to double over the next 15 years and over 90 million more people will move to cities within ASEAN by 2030. ‘Smart urbanisation’ models are needed that can deliver both economic growth and a sustainable good quality of life.

The ASEAN Secretariat has included sustainable infrastructure as a key pillar to ASEAN’s Masterplan on Connectivity 2025 that seeks ‘to achieve a seamlessly and comprehensively connected and integrated ASEAN that will promote competitiveness, inclusiveness, and a greater sense of Community’.

The aim of the roundtable is to highlight ASEAN’s sustainable infrastructure priorities and to discuss the role of the private sector in providing solutions to the infrastructure needs of Southeast Asia. The keynote address will be delivered by Brunei’s Minister of Development followed by a panel of private sector experts. Brunei is Chair of ASEAN in 2021.

The roundtable is part of a weeklong programme of infrastructure capacity building discussions with the ASEAN Secretariat and ASEAN Member States with the Infrastructure and Project Authority.

This event is reserved for UKABC partners, ASEAN Business Advisory Council members, the ASEAN Secretariat and governments of ASEAN.

Programme

7.15 Welcome remarks

• Baroness Neville-Rolfe DBE CMG, Chair, UK-ASEAN Business Council
• The Hon. Yanty Rahman, Chair, ASEAN Business Advisory Council

7.25 Opening remarks by 

• Mark Garnier MP, Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Brunei, Myanmar and Thailand

7.35 Keynote address ‘ASEAN’s Sustainable Development Priorities’ 

• The Hon. Dato Seri Setia Ir. Awang Haji Suhaimi bin Haji Gafar, Minister of Development, Brunei Darussalam.

7.45 Panel discussion ‘The role of the Private Sector in Delivering Sustainable Infrastructure’ 

•Michael Ridley, Senior Responsible Investment Specialist, HSBC Global Asset Management
• Sharad Somani, Executive Director and Head of Infrastructure, Asia Pacific, KPMG
• Andrew Stewart, Executive President, Strategy and Development, Wood
Chaired by Baroness Neville-Rolfe DBE CMG, Chair, UK-ASEAN Business Council 

8.45 Forum concludes

Further reading

Fast-Infra: A Public-Private Initiative. HSBC
Sustainable Infrastructure thought leadership. KPMG
How will sustainable urban infrastructure advance in the next 15 years? Wood plc
Master Plan on ASEAN Connectivity 2025. ASEAN Secretariat.
The Framework for Improving ASEAN Infrastructure Productivity. ASEAN Secretariat.
ASEAN Infrastructure Fund: Financing Infrastructure for Growth and Development. ADB
$300 Million from Green Climate Fund to Support ADB’s First Green Recovery Program in Southeast
Asia. ADB