Kuala Lumpur, 1st July 2021 – The Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS) will be hosting ‘ASEAN’s Digital Economy and the Post-COVID Recovery’, an online discussion on ASEAN’s digital transformation and how it has been supercharged by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The online discussion will be held on 7th July 2021 and is organised as part of IDEAS’ ASEAN Prosperity Initiative (API), an initiative designed to identify the major opportunities and challenges relating to the bloc’s future prosperity.

It will touch on how this transformation could possibly impact inequality within the region and identify methods to leverage new digital technologies in promoting a more inclusive and sustainable economy for the entire ASEAN community and includes a number of distinguished speakers with considerable expertise on the policy and socioeconomic environment across ASEAN with regards to tech, and how to level the digital playing field. These include:

•  Dr Jayant Menon, Visiting Senior Fellow, ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute
• Dr Jasmine Begum, Director of Legal and Government Affairs, SEA and New Markets, Microsoft Malaysia
• Pn Surina Shukri, Chief Executive Officer, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC)

The discussion coincides with ASEAN’s grappling with both the global pandemic as well as the advent of the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), the latter of which puts forward rapid development and dissemination of up-and-coming digital technologies.

While ASEAN’s digital future carries significant economic potential, experts have expressed concerns that the digital divide in many ASEAN countries would only cause any digital transformation to exacerbate present inequalities.

According to one measure, as of January 2021 around 30% of ASEAN’s total population remains disconnected from the Internet, with many of these populations often concentrated in certain marginalised communities and geographic areas.

Those interested in participating in our discussion can register for the event here:

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Download Media Statement PDF File Here
For enquiries, please contact:
Zokhri Idris, Ph.D, External Relations Director, IDEAS
T: +603 2070 8881/8882 | E: zokhri@ideas.org.my