ASEAN Business Advisory Council (BAC) Brunei highlighted the key agendas of the newly established Borneo Economic Community (BEC) at the 99th BAC 2024 meeting and the 23rd Joint Business Council meeting in Luang Prabang, Laos province last week.
In line with the Laotian Year’s theme of ‘Enhancing Connectivity and Resilience’, the agendas include digital trust, especially for cross-border collaborations, meaningful insights driven by analytics and artificial intelligence (AI), as well as sustainability-focused supply chain, standards and opportunities for the benefit of all, the Brunei delegation shared.
The Lao National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LNCCI), on behalf of the ASEAN BAC Laos, organised the meetings.
Members of the ASEAN BAC from ASEAN member countries took part in the meeting and members of the ASEAN Joint Business Advisory Council from various countries also participated. Representatives from Vientiane, Luang Prabang province, members of the LNCCI executive committee, the Luang Prabang provincial executive committee of commerce and industry and ambassadors to Laos from ASEAN countries also attended.
The meeting discussed directions and solutions for carrying out ASEAN activities in 2024. Under the theme ‘Enhancing Connectivity and Resilience’, ASEAN is formulating a connectivity master plan and aiming to increase resilience amid global competition and other unprecedented issues.
Malaythong emphasised the importance of the ASEAN BAC and said Laos continues to support the council as a special committee that works with the ASEAN Secretariat to strengthen ASEAN through growth of the region’s businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).
Chairman of the ASEAN BAC Laos and LNCCI President Oudet Souvannavong said, “Laos’ chairmanship of the ASEAN BAC this year will follow the same slogan as that of the central government for Laos’ ASEAN chairmanship.”
The chairmanship of the ASEAN BAC for 2024 and the hosting of the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (ABIS) for 2024 were handed over to Laos. Under Laos Chairmanship of the ASEAN BAC, the focus will be on six priority sectors: digital transformation; sustainable development; health resilience; food security; trade and investment facilitation; and connectivity and supply chains.
The ABIS and the ASEAN Business Awards will be held in October in conjunction with the ASEAN Leaders’ Summit and related meetings.
