South East Asia

Date
2024-12-08

A buzz of excitement filled the air at the Singapore International Energy Week (SIEW) 2024. Over 18,000 energy policymakers, thought leaders, and industry professionals from more than 70 countries gathered at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre to discuss energy developments and forge new collaborations. Navigating the Energy Transition through Resilience Energy resilience is a key dimension of Singapore’s decarbonisation strategy thr…


2024-12-06

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and MISC have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen collaboration in innovation, research and development (R&D) and test-bedding activities, to advance digital transformation in the maritime industry. The MoU was signed by Mr David Foo, Assistant Chief Executive (Operations and Operations Technology), MPA, and Mr Mohd Denny Mohd Isa, Vice President, MISC Marine, and witness…


2024-12-04

The Australian Government has approved a US$50 million investment into the Green Investments partnership (GIP) under Singapore’s Financing Asia’s Transition Partnership (FAST-P) initiative. The investment will support clean energy transition and sustainable infrastructure development across Southeast Asia. FAST-P was launched by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) at the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Frame…


Singapore-based United Overseas Bank (UOB) anticipates an expansion pace of 6.6 percent for Viet Nam’s economy in 2025 in its recent report released on December 2. The bank maintains Viet Nam's full year growth forecast at 6.4 percent, which implies 5.2 percent on year in the fourth quarter. The nation's real GDP growth was stronger than expected in quarter three this year, surging 7.4 percent on year compared to the median consensus view o…


2024-12-02

Minister for Trade and Agriculture Todd McClay today welcomes a delegation from Singapore, who are in New Zealand for a food security mission. “The visit will strengthen our trade and investment ties and demonstrate how New Zealand’s world-leading agri-food ecosystem can support Singapore’s long-term food security. “This mission will elevate the role of our world leading, high-quality, safe, food and fibre and contribute t…


2024-11-29

Airport charges to be progressively raised to finance investments, recover costs for investments during Covid-19, and cater for higher operating costs; rebates to help airlines with transition. Changi Airport Group (CAG) will invest S$3 billion over the next six years in Singapore Changi Airport Terminals 1 to 4 to improve services such as baggage handling, check-in, immigration and Skytrain connections between terminals, as …


2024-11-23

  The Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) has published the GreenGov.SG report FY2023, which details the public sector’s environmental sustainability performance from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024. The latest GreenGov.SG report incorporates waste data for the first time and provides further granularity on the categorisation of different types of public sector facilities to better contextualise their resource footprints…


2024-11-22

The Energy Market Authority (EMA) of Singapore and Ministry of Climate and Enterprise of Sweden have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Energy Cooperation to enhance collaboration on regional energy interconnectivity and the development of clean energy technologies. Under the MOU, both parties will cooperate on advancing High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) technologies and transmission infrastructure, including subsea cables. The partne…


2024-11-21

New acoustic filters could support faster future mobile communications by tapping into underused higher frequency bands, reducing congestion in existing channels. Global internet traffic has surged past three trillion gigabytes annually, largely due to high-definition video streaming. As our insatiable appetite for data grows, so does the need for faster, more efficient communication systems. However, the invisible highways of electromagnetic …


2024-11-20

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) and NUS Enterprise, the entrepreneurial arm of the National University of Singapore (NUS), held the annual PIER71™ Great Circle 2024 today at the Suntec Singapore Convention and Exhibition Centre. Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment opened the event as the Guest-of-Honour which featured the 8th edition of the Smart …


2024-11-18

  Singapore’s digital economy continued its strong contribution in 2023, accounting for S$113 billion of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) according to the second Singapore Digital Economy Report (4.34MB) developed by the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA). Maintaining a 17.7% share of the GDP, the digital economy now accounts for approximately S$1 out of every S$6 in the economy. From 2018 – 2023…


2024-11-15

Singapore Airlines and Garuda Indonesia, the flag carriers of Singapore and Indonesia respectively, are deepening their partnership with increased flight frequencies between Singapore Changi Airport and Soekarno–Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, Indonesia, and an expanded codeshare agreement. Singapore Airlines will increase its daily services between Jakarta and Singapore from six to eight, starting from 22 November 2024. Meanwhile, …


2024-11-13

At the 29th Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Ms Grace Fu, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment, announced that the Singapore Government has committed up to US$500 million in concessional funding to support the Financing Asia’s Transition Partnership (FAST-P) launched by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) last year.FAST-P is a blended finance initiative which br…


2024-11-11

With Vistara ceasing operations, India's full-service airline count drops to one. The merger grants Singapore Airlines a 25.1% share in Air India, concluding another overseas-backed airline era. Vistara will operate its last flights on November 11 before rebranding as Air India..... More https://bit.ly/4hTkB5o Via livemint.com


2024-11-06

 The Banque de France (BdF) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced the successful completion of a groundbreaking joint experiment in post-quantum cryptography (PQC) conducted across continents over conventional Internet technologies. The PQC experiment aims to strengthen communication and data security in the face of quantum computing advancements, and the successful experimentation marks a crucial milestone in the evolution…


2024-11-02

Through advanced chemistries in materials and process engineering, A*STAR lends its support to national development goals for a more circular economy. Our modern world is built on the idea of ‘take, make and dispose’. Consider the plastic water bottle: starting as crude oil extracted from the earth’s crust and subjected to carbon-emitting industrial processes, most of the 600 billion bottles that roll off factory li…


2024-10-31

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) today announced the establishment of the Global Finance &Technology Network (GFTN)[1] to further strengthen Singapore as a global FinTech hub and enhance global connectivity for impactful innovation in financial services.The first phase of FinTech growth in Singapore was driven by experimentation, as well as promotion of key initiatives to harness technology and innovation in the financial sector…


2024-10-30

- Project Mandala addresses the significant challenges in maintaining compliance with disparate regulatory and policy frameworks across jurisdictions. - Project Mandala successfully demonstrates the automation of compliance procedures for cross-border financial transactions. - Project Mandala is a collaboration between the BIS Innovation Hub, the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Bank of Korea, Bank Negara Malaysia and the Monetary Authority of Sing…


2024-10-29

Airline reinforces commitment to Vietnam through deepening its presence, improving connection opportunities, and supporting trade and tourism links Emirates has signed two Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) with Vietnam Airlines and VietJet, aimed at strengthening connectivity and offering more travel choices between Dubai and its Vietnamese gateways Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. The MoUs were signed on the sidelines of the Vietnam - UAE Business …


2024-10-28

The International Hydrographic Organization-Singapore Innovation and Technology Laboratory Trials Next Generation Charting Standards Aboard Italian Navy's Training Ship AMERIGO VESPUCCI The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO)-Singapore Innovation and Technology Laboratory (IHO-Singapore Lab) is conducting trials of next generation IHO S-100 standards and dual format Electronic Navig…


2024-10-25

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA) today announced that the Shared Responsibility Framework (SRF) for phishing scams, which was published for consultation on 25 October 2023[1], will be implemented on 16 December 2024.MAS and IMDA had proposed a SRF which assigns financial institutions (FIs) and telecommunication companies (Telcos) relevant duties to mitigate phishing scams, and …


2024-10-22

Well-known consumer electronics giant Dyson is expanding into haircare and beauty products, with its first haircare product line, Chitosan, launched in Singapore in late August. Chitosan is a range of hair treatment products created to maintain the hair’s natural movement and shine while removing stiffness. It is suitable for all hair types.....


2024-10-18

A plan for German insurer Allianz to buy a majority stake in Singapore’s Income Insurance went awry when a key piece of information belatedly came to light.  Allianz’s plan to return $1.85 billion in cash to shareholders within three years after the transaction in a capital reduction exercise proved to be a sticking point, prompting the Government to urgently pass new laws on Oct 16 to halt the deal..... More https://bit.ly/…


2024-10-17

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) jointly conducted today a business continuity exercise with financial institutions to strengthen the financial sector’s crisis management and operational resilience. Codenamed “Exercise Raffles”, this seventh edition of the exercise included 20 key financial institutions from the banking, payments, securities and insurance sectors. Par…


2024-10-14

Manufacturing rises 7.5% on the year, reversing from the 1.1% fall in the previous quarter SINGAPORE’S economy grew 4.1 per cent year on year (yoy) in the third quarter of 2024, an improvement from the previous quarter’s 2.9 per cent growth, advance estimates from the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) showed on Monday (Oct 14) morning.... More https://bit.ly/4f5xqHB Via businesstimes.com.sg  


Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh signed a Decision approving the digital infrastructure strategy through 2025, with an orientation towards 2030. The strategy targets that by 2025, all Vietnamese households will be able to access fiber optic cable services while all the localities nationwide, high-tech parks, centralized information technology parks, research and development and innovation centers, industrial parks, train stations, …


The scammers would hold video calls dressed as police or Monetary Authority of Singapore officers, and produce fake badges to lend credence to their deceit. The authorities warned on Thursday (Oct 10) of a rise in government official impersonation scams, with at least S$6.7 million (US$5.1 million) lost in September.....


2024-10-10

ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, the San Francisco-based company synonymous with bringing generative artificial intelligence (AI) into the spotlight, will open its second office in Asia in Singapore later in 2024. The Singapore office – the company’s fourth international branch – will focus on advancing regional collaboration, including work with national programme AI Singapore on generative AI models that are tuned to understand and refle…


2024-10-08

Singapore aims to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. To reach this goal, the power sector continues to push forward in decarbonising its energy supply and transforming its fuel mix through multiple pathways, including exploring hydrogen as a promising low-carbon alternative. Hydrogen is considered a clean fuel as its combustion produces water as a by-product, unlike fossil fuels, which release carbon dioxide whe…


2024-10-07

 The voluntary carbon market has been in the doldrums for two years amid doubts among buyers over the integrity of the process, noted industry experts. They told The Straits Times that most were deterred by a 2023 report in The Guardian, which found that more than 90 per cent of the carbon credits on registry Verra were “phantom”.... More https://bit.ly/3zLnUdC Via straitstimes.com


2024-10-05

TEMASEK is in talks to buy a minority stake in Haldiram Snacks, sources familiar with the matter said, a transaction that may value India’s biggest snack maker at about US$11 billion. The Singapore investment company is holding preliminary talks to buy from 10 to 15 per cent in Haldiram, the sources said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.... More https://bit.ly/4eRwR3T Via businesstimes.com


2024-10-03

The Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (IBPAP) reported on Wednesday that 8 percent of its surveyed members reported a headcount reduction due to artificial intelligence (AI), but said it is optimistic that the number will not rise in the coming years. At the 16th IT-Business Process Management (BPM) Summit in Parañaque Wednesday, IBPAP president Jack Madrid said there are more companies that reporte…


Meta’s President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg says it is one of the the two significant new mile stones in Meta’s commitment to Việt Nam. The Quest 3S line uses a similar technology to its predecessor model Quest 3, but will be cheaper and lighter, he said at the Innovate Vietnam 2024 conference in Hà Nội on Tuesday.....


2024-10-03

It will support the increase in the country’s air cargo handling capacity from 3 million tonnes per annum to 5.4 million tonnes SINGAPORE will develop a second Airport Logistics Park (ALPS2) from 2030 onwards to boost cargo handling capacity and help cement the country’s role as a regional logistics hub.... More https://bit.ly/4erVPHn Via businesstimes.com


2024-10-02

Singapore’s manufacturing output increased 21.0% in August 2024 on a year-on-year basis. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output increased 27.5%. On a threemonth moving average basis, manufacturing output increased 5.7% in August 2024, compared to a year ago. On a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis, manufacturing output increased 6.7%. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output increased 11.0%. Highlights On a year-on-year basis, S…


Ha Noi will build a hi-biotechnology park in Bac Tu Liem district following the Government's approval of the project. Covering an area of 199.03 hectares, it is managed by the Ha Noi Municipal People's Committee. The park will engage in high-tech activities in accordance with the international trends and Viet Nam's policies and orientations for high-tech development, with a strong focus on biotechnology. The park will provide an open space, an ec…


2024-10-01

Delay to full enforcement follows complaints from Singapore motorists about the lengthy delays in the application and issuance of the permits Over the past few weeks, thousands of drivers of foreign-registered vehicles – mostly from Singapore – have expressed frustration and anger over the muddled process to obtain a Vehicle Entry Permit (VEP) that they need when driving into Malaysia... More https://bit.ly/4eK8wNh Via businessti…


2024-09-29

Collectors and enthusiasts will be wowed by a showcase featuring the world’s most exclusive and internationally acclaimed lineup of rare liquor products to enhance their collections. A selection of over 100 premium and rare fine liquors from 66 prestigious brands including Bowmore, The Singleton, The Macallan and The Glenlivet are available for purchase through the WOWS online portal. Exclusive masterclasses offer guests privileged acce…


Việt Nam and Thailand have been implementing action plans as part of the enhanced strategic partnership between the two countries, with a target of boosting bilateral trade turnover to US$25 billion. Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyễn Minh Hằng stated at the opening ceremony of the Meet Thailand conference in the central city that the two countries have strengthened connections in the supply chain and business exchanges as well as deve…


Foreign Affairs Minister Maris Sangiampongsa has reaffirmed Thailand’s focus on the sufficiency economy philosophy and the fight against transnational crime as key strategies for sustainable development during the United Nations Summit of the Future in New York. The summit, which adopted the Pact for the Future as its outcome, seeks to tackle global challenges and accelerate progress towards achieving the UN's Sustainable Development Goals …


2024-09-27

The Philippines has leapfrogged 47 places over the past decade in the Global Innovation Index (GII) published by the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO). The country ranked 53rd this year from 100th place in the 2014 edition of the report, making the country one of the fastest 10-year risers along with China, Türkiye, India and Vietnam. The Philippines also advanced three notches from 56th place last year. The WIPO noted that the Phili…


Viet Nam ranks 44th out of 133 countries and economies in the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2024 report, up two notches compared to the 2023 ranking. According to the report released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on September 26, Viet Nam sees an improvement in the Innovation Input Sub-index, rising four notches to the 53rd position....


2024-09-26

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced the establishment of a Cyber and Technology Resilience Experts (CTREX) Panel. The Panel replaces MAS’ Cyber Security Advisory Panel[1], with an expanded mandate to cover technology resilience which, together with cybersecurity, significantly underpins the operational resilience of the financial sector.   The Panel will advise MAS on key emerging technology risks and threats facin…


Vietnam's IT job market is experiencing unprecedented growth, particularly in areas like AI, big data, cloud computing, and cybersecurity. According to a report released by TopDev on September 19, the demand for high-tech personnel is soaring, with salaries for specialists in these fields continuously increasing. The average salary for a developer in Vietnam in 2024 is estimated to range from $1,100 to $3,000 per month, depending on ski…


2024-09-23

Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) has enhanced its sustainability reporting regime and will start incorporating the latest international standards into its sustainability reporting regime following broad support from respondents to a public consultation.  Beginning with financial year (FY) 2025, SGX RegCo will require all issuers to start reporting Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Their climate-related disclosures …


2024-09-22

Following its resounding success in Vietnam, VinFast Auto has officially opened pre-orders for the VF 3 in the Philippines. This marks the first time VinFast is launching its stylish mini electric SUV in an international market. From September 19 to 30, early customers who reserve the VF 3 will enjoy several attractive incentives and privileges, including a special price of 605,000 pesos (battery subscription) or 705,000 pesos (battery include…


2024-09-21

EEAI and VES Band A1 Rebates Maintained to Support Adoption of Electric Cars - VES Band A2 Rebate Adjusted To support the vision of 100% cleaner energy vehicles by 2040, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) and the National Environment Agency (NEA) will continue to incentivise the adoption of cleaner energy vehicles from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2025, with an emphasis on electric vehicles. The LTA will maintain the existing EV Early Adoption I…


2024-09-20

Cebu Pacific (PSE: CEB), the Philippines’ leading carrier, took delivery of another A320neo, its 11th aircraft for the year, as part of the airline’s commitment to expand its network and provide accessible air travel for every Juan. The 180-seater and fuel-efficient A320neo arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Manila on September 13. “We’re thrilled to welcome another aircraft to our growing fleet. T…