With the 47th Asean Summit taking place amid geopolitical tensions and regional instability, there is a need for Asean’s member states to come together when the world is “undergoing profound changes”, said Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Sunday (Oct 26). Speaking in the Malaysian capital during the biannual meeting’s plenary session, which included Asean’s latest member Timor-Leste for the first time, he proposed three areas for the bloc to focus on. The first, he said, is deepening intra-Asean integration. While the Asean Free-Trade Area is almost tariff-free, PM Wong noted that it is not completely so.  “We should really endeavour to bring tariffs down to zero,” he said, adding that beyond tariffs, businesses still face a complex operating environment in Asean, and more needs to be done to help them operate seamlessly across the region.   https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/singapore/thrive-uncertain-times-asean-further-integration-resilience-pm-wong   (ICE SINGAPORE)

Fonte notizia: The Business Times, 26 October 2025