In an age of instability, governments and business look to Singapore: Mike Bloomberg

LAST month’s major regional summits, hosted by Asean and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, offered a snapshot of a changing world. Even as leaders sealed deals and called for greater unity, global tension and uncertainty loomed over the talks.

And the business community has been left wondering to what extent conflict – rather than cooperation – would define the near-term future of international trade and investment.

It has already been a tumultuous decade. Five years ago, the pandemic shut down much of the global economy’s usual operations, shattering supply chains and fuelling inflation.

Russia’s war with Ukraine has cut it off from much of Europe, the United States and other nations. The war in Gaza is inflaming relations across the Middle East. Rising migration from the Southern Hemisphere has upended politics in the Northern Hemisphere – and crackdowns on it have disrupted business planning.

In such a volatile environment, business leaders seek opportunity in stability – and no region is doing more to deliver both than South-east Asia.

When supply chains broke during the pandemic, many companies turned here. Singapore increased its exports. Vietnam expanded its manufacturing base. Thailand, despite political uncertainty, has seen renewed interest from international investors. And that momentum has continued building.

Across four of South-east Asia’s largest economies – including Singapore – growth accelerated in the first half of 2025. Inflation stayed low and currencies strengthened. That is a rare combination in today’s world.

Singapore is helping to lead the way. As a global financial centre with world-class infrastructure, it is increasingly attractive to business leaders seeking open markets, an educated workforce, low inflation and steady growth.

That makes Singapore an ideal place for 500 business and government leaders to gather, at this week’s Bloomberg New Economy Forum.

The agenda will focus on building partnerships across the public and private sector that can tap and help fuel the region’s growth, while also tackling some of its most difficult challenges.

For instance, Singapore is already setting a strong example in leading the global transition to clean energy. Governments cannot fund that transition on their own, of course, given the high upfront costs.

Carbon credits – bought and sold by countries, companies and investors alike – can help attract more of the capital needed, but only if carbon markets are transparent and standardised.

To help, Singapore is co-chairing a new coalition, alongside Kenya and the United Kingdom, seeking to increase international demand for carbon credits.

Indonesia and Vietnam are also building domestic carbon markets, rightly recognising that clean energy and economic growth go hand in hand.

Keeping trade, tech and capital moving

In addition to the region’s leadership in climate action, South-east Asia has another major competitive advantage: youth. With one of the world’s youngest workforces, the region could fuel decades of growth.

But demographics are not destiny. In South-east Asia’s developing economies, too many young people remain stuck in informal or gig-economy work without clear pathways to skilled careers. How can government and business work together to create them?

One possibility is greater investment in tech infrastructure. Right now, for instance, the world’s artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure is highly concentrated.

The United States and China operate more than 90 per cent of AI data centres. Singapore and Malaysia are investing heavily to begin closing the gap, but data centres demand huge amounts of capital and energy.

Not every government can afford them, so they’ll need new financing models to keep pace. Private sector capital will again be essential, and not just in developing AI infrastructure.

As tech plays an increasingly central role in economic development and job creation, Singapore’s semiconductor partnership with India shows that progress is possible.

Asean leaders have also called for more public-private partnerships. I’ve long believed that progress on most major issues depends on closer collaboration between business and government. Each has resources the other lacks, and each can deliver results the other can’t.

As partners, rather than antagonists, they can accomplish so much more than either could alone.

Tackling these kinds of big challenges is what we designed the New Economy Forum to do. We built it to serve as a bridge between governments and business.

As geopolitical dialogue grows more difficult between national governments, the private sector has even more opportunity to step into the breach.

By gathering more government and business leaders in the same room, we can form relationships strong enough to keep trade, technology and capital moving, even as politics threaten to slow them.

And we can show what’s possible when countries prize cooperation over conflict, as Singapore has long done.

The past five years have shown in new ways how deeply interconnected economies are. The next five demand business and government to think – and act – even more creatively together.

The writer is the founder of Bloomberg and the Bloomberg New Economy Forum. He served as mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013.