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ASEAN Boosts Cooperation in Green Economy and Industry 4.0

The ASEAN member states pledged to strengthen regional cooperation in the circular and green economy, food and agriculture, energy resilience, and the Fourth Industrial Revolution at an informal Ministerial Meeting on Science, Technology and Innovation on 17 June.

The meeting, held virtually, was chaired by Prof. Dr. Anek Laothamatas, Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation of the Kingdom of Thailand, ASEAN said in a statement at the end of the event.

The meeting focused on the implementation of the ASEAN Innovation Roadmap 2019-2025 after the pandemic. The ministers from the Southeast Asian bloc highlighted efforts towards a more resilient and sustainable future through greater regional collaboration.

Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) plays a key role in the industrial transformation in the region, the ministers concurred, and welcomed the ongoing development of a Consolidated Strategy on the Fourth Industrial Revolution for ASEAN.

“To reposition ASEAN more competitively during the post-pandemic global reordering, the Meeting agreed to build a regional plan for an ASEAN STI ecosystem, supporting more value-adding industries by fostering synergies among AMSs [ASEAN member states] based on their individual competitive advantages in STI,” the joint media statement of the ministers reads.

The ministers of science, technology, and innovation also endorsed a Bio- Circular-Green Economy Network which is expected to contribute to a more competitive, efficient, and resilient ASEAN.

Participants were also pleased to note that projects on plastic waste and sustainable manufacturing have been initiated in the region, in order to support enterprises with access to technologies that could be deployed for sustainable development.