Central Asia offers a vast ocean of possibilities for Asean

IN A global landscape radically changed by Covid-19, expedience is the name of the game. An impending post-pandemic climate, fraught with unpredictability, means previously unlikely partnerships are now possible. Every option should be explored for Asean countries like Singapore. While Central Asia is usually not the first that comes to mind for South-east Asian business leaders, I would like to suggest that the tide is slowly but surely changing, and a vast ocean of possibilities are there to dive into.

Kazakhstan is no stranger to Singapore companies. Some have already blazed a trail to leave their imprint there, such as Meinhardt Group, Keppel Corporation and Surbana Jurong. Singapore Exchange-listed Food Empire, a giant in food manufacturing, has been in Kazakhstan since 1994.

There is much space for working together with not just Singapore, but Asean. A potential area of collaboration is fintech, where Singapore has been a pioneer. For Singapore fintech businesses, this is a great opportunity to enter new attractive territory. In the area of Islamic finance, Malaysia's Zico Shariah jointly developed a five-year masterplan for Kazakhstan to develop this industry. There is also huge opportunity in agriculture, especially in a post-pandemic world where food supply chains have been disrupted. Kazakhstan can be a reliable source of exported food for South-east Asia. A fruitful partnership between the regions would abound with promise for the world.