Driving commercial and political engagement between Asia, the Middle East and Europe
Driving commercial and political engagement between Asia, the Middle East and Europe
Driving commercial and political engagement between Asia, the Middle East and Europe
Leading policy and innovation figures shared their insights at this year’s Asia House Global Trade Dialogue on Monday (7 December), with tech and the transformation of trade being key themes.
In a Q&A with Asia House Chief Executive Michael Lawrence, AI pioneer Kai-Fu Lee outlined how rapid digitisation is having profound effects on business, from the explosion of live streaming retail in China – a sector that has boomed “from almost nothing last year to US$200 billion of ecommerce transactions” in 2020 – to the potential of digital learning to transform education through gamification.
GO-JEK founder and Indonesian Minister of Education and Culture, Nadiem Makarim, joined Google APAC President Scott Beaumont to explore Southeast Asia’s rapidly expanding digital economy, which is on track to hit $US300 billion by 2025. The Minister emphasised the importance of talent in realising Indonesia’s digital potential, and outlined some of the policies his government has implemented to meet the demand for digital skills. Beaumont, meanwhile, noted the dramatic increase in online adoption in the region during the COVID19 pandemic, with 40 million new internet users going online in 2020, compared with 10 million in 2019.
The Dialogue also heard from WTO Chief Economist Bob Koopman, who assessed the global trade outlook for 2021, while the latest US-China dynamics were explored by Anne Ruth Herkes, former Secretary of State at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy; Tu Xinquan, Dean and Professor of the China Institute for WTO Studies at the University of International Business and Economics; and Noah Barkin, Senior Visiting Fellow, Asia Program, The German Marshall Fund of the United States.
Lord Green, Chairman of Asia House, brought the Dialogue to a close by outlining some of the key trade opportunities emerging for the UK as it moves beyond Brexit.
