Asean's digital economy key to unlocking growth

RESILIENCE and innovation. That's the tag line for Singapore's chairmanship of Asean this year. And both are very much needed if Asean is to achieve true integration in the form of a single market.

Here's the bottom line going in - while free trade in most goods and some services has been in place for over a decade, the seamless flow of corporate/trade payments and investments remains frustratingly elusive.

Businesses still face restrictions despite a 2015 blueprint mapping steps to eliminate barriers. Some tariffs continue to exist, and new non-tariff barriers have appeared even after the establishment of the Asean Economic Community (AEC).