World Economic Forum on ASEAN

Welcome to the World Economic Forum on ASEAN 2016, live from the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.

The theme of the meeting, which takes place from 1-2 June, is 'Shaping the ASEAN Agenda for Inclusion and Growth'. Follow this live blog for news, views, live sessions and other highlights throughout.

You can read more about the meeting here, and also take a look at the full programme. Meanwhile, if you'd like to embed the sessions on your own website or blog, or learn how to follow the meeting on social media, here's a detailed guide.

All of the blogs in our in-depth series on the region can be found on this page.

To get you started, Justin Wood, Head of Asia Pacific at the World Economic Forum, sets the scene in this piece:

What do the next 25 years hold for the ASEAN region?

What is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations? Why was it set up? What does it do?

All of these questions, and more, are answered in our in-depth explainer on the 10-nation bloc.

Ahead of the World Economic Forum on ASEAN 2016 in Kuala Lumpur, which starts tomorrow, here's a video on the region's fastest growing economies.

Good news: ASEAN economies might see a bonanza of new jobs. Bad news: without bold reforms people will lack the skills to fill these positions.

Society has made commendable progress on the road to achieving socio-economic gender parity. We have much to be optimistic about, especially in South-East Asia.

You can watch live streams of many of the sessions taking place here in Kuala Lumpur using the live player above.

Some live sessions will also be live tweeted, which you can follow on our Twitter feed @Davos. Join in the conversation by using the hashtag #ASEAN16.

Read more here:

How to follow and embed our ASEAN 2016 meeting

Want to know more about ASEAN as we prepare for the sessions to begin in Kuala Lumpur?

Start with this list of 7 surprising things you probably didn't know about ASEAN. For example, did you know that the region is home to 227 of the world's companies with more than $1 billion in revenues?

Our first live-streamed session of the day - ASEAN and the Big Picture - will begin in around 20 minutes. The session will ask - how are regional and global forces impacting the growth outlook for economies in the region?

You can watch the session in full on the live player above.

Here's some useful background reading:

Can ASEAN compete with the world's economic superpowers?
What do the next 25 years hold for the ASEAN region?
Is this the one thing stopping ASEAN companies from going global?

Don't forget you can also follow the live sessions on our Twitter feed @Davos, and join in the conversation by using the hashtag #ASEAN16.

Here are some highlights from the session on ASEAN's growth outlook.

Panel members include Nazir Razak, Chairman, CIMB Group Holdings Berhad, Ulf Ewaldsson, Senior Vice-President and Chief Technology Officer, Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson, Mari Elka Pangestu, Professor of International Economics, University of Indonesia, Yoshiaki Fujimori, President and Chief Executive Officer, LIXIL Group Corporation, and Shahril Shamsuddin, President and Group Chief Executive Officer, SapuraKencana Petroleum Berhad.

The 10 countries in the ASEAN bloc are home to 625 million people - almost 9% of the world's population. Here's a quick video on the fastest growing cities in the region.

Education in East Asia has taken a giant leap forward in recent years. But for students, academic excellence may not be enough, argues Vikas Pota.

Our next live streamed session is just about to start.

As digital infrastructure is built across ASEAN, how will countries nurture the digital economy to go with it?

To get you started, here's a piece by Idham Nawawi and Soon Ghee Chua on how the region can reap the benefits of digitalization.

5 ways East Asia can fuel its digital revolution

Here are a few highlights from this session on ASEAN's digital economy.

Panel members include Yasmin Mahmood, CEO of Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation, Hans-Paul Bürkner, Chairman, The Boston Consulting Group, Sigve Brekke, President and CEO, Telenor Group, Emirsyah Satar, Chairman, Matahari Mall, Nick Nash, Group President, Garena Interactive Holding Ltd.

"Society has made commendable progress on the road to achieving socio-economic gender parity", writes Mastercard's Georgette Tan. "We have much to be optimistic about, especially in South-East Asia."

The ASEAN region, however, still has a long way to go before it completely closes the gender gap in its respective markets. But doing so could unleash a new wave of economic growth, as Tan argues in this piece:

Why women hold the key to South-East Asia’s economic success

Air Asia's Group CEO, Tony Fernandes, just took part in a Facebook Live with the Forum's Senior Director of Communications, Mike Hanley, answering questions on everything from potential new routes for Air Asia planes to advice for budding entrepreneurs.

Watch the interview in full here.

The World Economic Forum’s annual Human Capital Index benchmarks and quantifies how countries are developing and deploying their human capital, and tracks each nation’s progress over time.

How do the ASEAN countries rank, and how can the region reap the rewards of the Fourth Industrial Revolution?

Take a look at our new report to find out:

Human Capital Outlook: Association of East Asian Nations

Here are some of the highlights from the opening plenary at the 25th World Economic Forum on ASEAN.

The session is focused on inclusive growth in the region. On the panel, we have: Mohd Najib Bin Tun Abdul Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia, Samdech Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia, Rui Maria de Araújo, Prime Minister of Timor-Leste, Jusuf Kalla, Vice-President of Indonesia, Trinh Dinh Dung, Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam.

While the government could push for equal pay or more incentives for girls to continue on to secondary schooling, businesses and civil society organizations need to lead the advocacy toward a shift in cultural expectations of women.

Don't forget that a wide selection of images from our #ASEAN16 meeting are available for download - free of charge - over on our Flickr account.

After 30 years of breakneck growth, China’s economy is undergoing profound shifts. What are the implications of these changes for South-East Asia?

That's the topic of discussion in our final live-streamed session of day one here in Kuala Lumpur.

On the panel, AirAsia's Group CEO Tony Fernandes, GE's ASEAN CEO Wouter Van Wersch, University of Indonesia economics professor Mari Elka Pangestu and Standard Chartered's Chief Economist David Mann.

Here are some highlights:

In order to realize the gains that will come with the transformation of the energy sector through transformative ICT solutions, we need cooperation between governments, the private sector, international organizations, civil society and academia.

"Since 2000, nowhere outside China and India has seen more robust economic growth. At the same time, however, South-East Asia performs poorly when it comes to human rights," writes Salil Shetty, Secretary General of Amnesty International, in a post for our blog, Agenda.

"Throughout the region, the rights to freedom of expression and assembly are under attack. As authorities have rapidly derestricted the flow of capital, they have imposed increasingly greater restrictions on the flow of opinions and ideas – whether online or offline. And at a time when the majority of the world’s countries have turned their back on the death penalty, abolishing this cruel and irreversible practice, the region is seeing a worrying revival in its implementation."

Businesses will play a major role in the creation of a fair society that leaves no-one behind, Shetty argues.

Here's the full piece:

Human rights are under attack – it’s time for the business world to do more

That's it for today from us in Kuala Lumpur. Day one of #ASEAN16 is almost over. Join us tomorrow for live sessions on geo-economic competition, automation of jobs, human rights, and an interview with Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh, as well as lots more blogs, videos and other digital highlights. In the meantime, you can keep the conversation going on Twitter using the hashtag #ASEAN16.

Welcome back to our live coverage of the World Economic Forum on ASEAN, here in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Our first live-streamed session of the day - Battling over Asia's Economic Architecture - is just an hour away.

Will geo-economic competition between global powers in South-East Asia weaken or strengthen the region?

Technology should not replace teachers but technology should be used to help teachers teach better.

Is gender inequality still entrenched across Asia? Trini Leung, Director General of Oxfam Hong Kong, believes it is. Writing for our blog platform, Agenda, she argues:

"Economic growth is always welcomed with open arms, but what if I said that the much-hailed progress we have seen in Asia over the past couple of decades was built on injustice against women?

"According to the International Monetary Fund, the region’s economy grew at an average of 6% a year between 1990 and 2015. But this growth was made possible in part by countries building their global competitiveness on the backs of women, who were paid low wages and made to work in substandard conditions."

Read the full piece here.

The future of jobs has been something of a hot topic at this year's ASEAN meeting. In particular, how will technology and the onset of the Fourth Industrial Revolution affect employment in the region, and how should the 10 country bloc respond?

This will be the subject of the upcoming session, What If: Jobs as We Know Them Disappear?, which starts in around 15 minutes.

For some background reading, here's a few blogs from our ASEAN series:

How Asians might lose their jobs (and find new ones)
Is this the answer to youth unemployment in East Asia?
Why women hold the key to South-East Asia's economic success
South-East Asia's digital jobs revolution – in 5 charts

You should also take a look at our new report on the skills and employment outlook in the region:

Human Capital Outlook: Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

Here are some highlights from this busy session on jobs and education in ASEAN. On the panel for this one: Kathleen Chew, Group Legal Counsel, YTL Corporation Berhad and #ASEAN16 co-chair, Anies Baswedan, Minister of Education and Culture, Indonesia, Zoher Abdoolcarim, Asia Editor, Time, Gerald Lawless, ead of Tourism and Hospitality, Dubai Holding, Prakash Mallya, Managing Director, South-East Asia, Intel.

If you missed it, AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes took part in a Facebook Live chat with us yesterday. Mr Fernandes shared his business tips for budding entrepreneurs and recalled how he bought the airline for 25 cents just three days before 9/11. Here's a write-up of what he had to say, and you can watch the interview in full in the player below.

A move towards an ASEAN common visa for tourists and business travellers would require all 10 ASEAN states to implement joint policies and adopt common processes, as well as harmonize documents and data standards.

Do we need a unified ASEAN identify and where would such a shared vision lead the region?

That's the topic being discussed in the live streamed session - Unity in Diversity, Powering ASEAN's Future.

On the panel: Salil Shetty, Secretary-General of Amnesty International, is on the panel. Earlier today, Shetty took part in a Facebook Live with the Forum's Mike Hanley, which you can watch in full here:

Shetty has also written a blog post for us on this topic, which you can find here:

Human rights are under attack – it’s time for the business world to do more

Here are some highlights from that session on human rights.

On the panel, Amnesty's Salil Shetty, QI Group Executive Chairman Vijay Eswaran, Astro Awani Executive Editor Bahrin Haron Kamarul, Singapore Management University's Annie Koh, Malaysia's Governance and Integrity minister Paul Low Seng Kuan and Laos' Foreign Minister, Saleumxay Kommasith.

In order to realize the gains that will come with the transformation of the energy sector through transformative ICT solutions, we need cooperation between governments, the private sector, international organizations, civil society and academia.

An exciting session has just started here at #ASEAN16 in Kuala Lumpur - a one-on-one interview with Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh. Yeoh will be talking about her acclaimed performances playing strong women and what lessons her career provides for developing a creative economy in South-East Asia.

You can watch the session live here.

Here are some highlights from our chat with Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh.

If you missed it, Plan International CEO Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen just joined the Forum's Senior Director of Communication for a Facebook Live chat about women's rights in Asia and other parts of the world.

Watch the interview in full in the player below.

You should also take a look at Albrectsen's blog for our series of articles on ASEAN:

Why we need to talk about girls’ rights in East Asia

Big data analytics can deliver massive value, but too often companies let technology guide their efforts. Instead, decisions must be based on business priorities.

Women must be true to themselves, hold their own against male colleagues and be uncompromising in their career decisions in order to fight for equality, global movie star Michelle Yeoh told an audience during a one-on-one interview at #ASEAN16.

If you missed it, here's the session in full.

Patnaree Chankij is a 40-year-old maid who lives in Thailand and happens to be the mother of a pro-democracy activist. Her son has been campaigning peacefully against Thailand’s repressive military government, which seized power in a coup two years ago.

That's it from us in Kuala Lumpur, the World Economic Forum on ASEAN 2016 has now come to a close. Don't forget that you can re-watch all the live streamed sessions on this page and read all the blogs in our ASEAN series here. Thanks for joining us!