The UK-ASEAN Business Council delegation with Lord Sarwar, Minister of State for Trade

• The UK-ASEAN Business Council and accompanying business delegation, met Lord Sarwar, the UK's Minister of State for Trade, in Manila on 21 September 2026, in advance of the Sixth AEM–UK Consultation. 

• The Minister described the Council's three priorities, on infrastructure, connectivity and skills, as "bang on" and in line with the Government's own. 

• His central message: trade agreements can take a long time, so government and business should continue to encourage specific deals and partnerships now. 

On the morning of 21 September, a UKABC business delegation led by Stuart Tait, Vice Chair, UKABC and Ian Gibbons OBE met the Minister at the Makati Shangri-La in Manila. The Minister was joined by Helen Fazey, the UK Ambassador to ASEAN, and Martin Kent CMG, His Majesty's Trade Commissioner for Asia Pacific. UKABC business participants included OCS, Wise, Revolut, HSBC, Standard Chartered and Pearson. This bilateral meeting took place 24 hours before Lord Sarwar would co-chair the Sixth ASEAN Economic Ministers–UK Consultation, hosted by the Philippines. 

The ensuing open conversation was  framed as much around what the UK offers ASEAN as around what ASEAN offers the UK. 

Three business priorities in support of deeper UK-ASEAN collaboration 

UKABC set out the three business priorities the Council would take to Ministers the following day. 

The first was resilient infrastructure and energy connectivity. Projects need to be shovel-ready, not simply announced, if private capital is to follow, and the ASEAN Power Grid stands out. The second was digital, financial and trade connectivity: putting the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA) into practice, finishing the work on paperless trade, and making cross-border payments cheaper and clearer. The third was skills and institutional capacity, so that investors can trust projects will be delivered. 

The Minister called the three "bang on" and fully in step with the Government's thinking. 

Future opportunities  

UKABC members shared a range of specific issues and updates with Lord Sarwar including: 

• the granting of new bank licenses and speed of market opening to support economic growth in ASEAN;  

• positive examples of financial services payments market opening in the Philippines and encouragement that this approach is adopted in other countries in Southeast Asia; 

• interest in new trade agreements across the region to ensure UK companies aren’t disadvantaged; 

• the need for certainty around infrastructure projects and how this certainty will encourage finance to follow; 

• the vital role that skills portability, mutual recognition and verification of qualifications for UK providers will play in supporting future growth across ASEAN.  

The ensuing conversation was productive, forward looking and helped to underpin UKABC’s presentation to the 6th AEM-UK Consultation. UKABC Chair Lord Vaizey has written to Lord Sarwar to follow up on the issues discussed.