Reuters NEXT Asia returned to Singapore for its second year in the world's fastest growing region last week. Reuters definitive live journalism summit brought together more than 400 global leaders, innovators, and CEOs to examine the challenges defining business, society, and countries. More than five million viewers watched the event.
The audience heard from Malaysia Trade Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz , Philippine Defence Minister Gilberto Teodoro, Singapore Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam and Sri Lankan and Pakistan central bank governors, as well as executives from companies including HashKey Capital, Google, Thai Airways, Pony.ai, and Ant International. The complete list of speakers is available on the Reuters NEXT Asia website.
On the main stage, speakers tackled six key themes: Geopolitics, Economy & Markets, Banking & Finance, Technology & AI, Climate & Sustainability, and Business Leadership.
In conversation with Reuters Executive Editor Simon Robinson, Singapore Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said that in a multipolar world, small countries like Singapore have to develop even deeper relationships with other nations. "There are more powers playing the game as it were, as opposed to the time when the Americans held the peace across the world. So that's changing, and in such a context, small countries like us have to develop even deeper relationships," said Shanmugam, pointing to China, the United States and Europe.
On trade, Shanmugam said the U.S. was an indispensable nation and its policies impact "every country, allies and non-allies alike", especially for a trade-reliant country like Singapore where external trade is 3 to 4 times its GDP.
Malaysia Trade Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz said in an interview with Reuters Chief Economics Correspondent for Korea Cynthia Kim that his country has no plans to retaliate against a 25% tariff levied on its goods by the United States, and is "still optimistic" about reaching a trade deal.
Philippine Defence Minister Gilberto Teodoro discussed how China's stance in the Indo-Pacific region is rooted in long-standing strategic ambitions independent of any U.S. policy. Speaking with Reuters Global News Desk editor Raju Gopalakrishnan, he added, "The prospect of war is not imminent. I believe it is remote, but that would entirely depend upon the internal conditions of China."
In a panel discussion on the outlook for Asia’s aviation industry, moderated by Reuters Asia Commodities & Energy Editor Tony Munroe, Thai Airways CEO Chai Eamsiri said the company could exercise an existing option to buy more planes from U.S. planemaker Boeing as part of Thailand's tariff negotiations with the United States. Eamsiri said the airline has no plans to resume direct flights to the United States, despite the U.S. upgrading Thailand's air safety rating this year to permit direct flights.
Cynthia Kim also spoke with State Bank of Pakistan Governor Jameel Ahmad, who said Pakistan was “building up our capacity on the central bank digital currency” and hoped to roll out a pilot soon. Ahmad said a new law would “lay down the foundations for the licensing and regulation” of the virtual assets sector and that the central bank was in touch with some tech companies. "There are risks associated, and at the same time, there are opportunities in this new emerging field. We have to evaluate and manage the risk very carefully, and at the same time not allow to let go of the opportunity.”
Reuters NEXT heads to Abu Dhabi for the inaugural Reuters NEXT Gulf on October 21-23, and returns to New York on December 3-4.
Visit the dedicated Reuters NEXT page on Reuters.com to see more news from the Reuters NEXT ASIA summit.