Middle East companies with an ASEAN focus upbeat about business growth in the region

Middle East companies with an ASEAN focus upbeat about business growth in the region

He added: “ASEAN’s focus on becoming future-ready in areas such as digital and renewable energy offers Middle East companies and investment firms’ ample opportunities to invest, develop and provide solutions to meet their sustainability goals. Given our unique global footprint, Standard Chartered has the right mix of local knowledge and expertise across all ASEAN markets to better help our clients leverage these potential opportunities and strive for continued success.”

The report also revealed that access to the large and growing ASEAN consumer market (60%), access to a global market enabled by a network of Free Trade Agreements (58%) and diversification of production footprint (51%) are regarded as the most important drivers[2] for expansion into the region, according to senior executives of the surveyed Middle East companies. The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is also expected to attract more investments into the 10-nation bloc. All respondents agreed that the ratification of the RCEP agreement will lead to more investments from their company. Close to 70 per cent[3] expect their company to increase investments by more than 50 per cent over the next 3-5 years.

Of the ASEAN markets targeted for growth, 69 per cent of survey respondents said they are focusing on expanding