As the world continues to grapple with the setbacks from the pandemic, cooperation between businesses and key sectors remains crucial to facilitate economic development and explore areas of growth in Southeast Asia. Severely disrupted by the pandemic, business and trade will take a pivotal role in the recovery of the region.

In light of this outlook, the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines will be hosting another series of the East ASEAN Business Conference on 28 October, 22 November and 07 December 2021, from 2:30 PM to 5:30 PM PST via Zoom. This multi-day conference will feature keynote presentations from business leaders from across the region on the topics of enhancing regional trade and supply chain, as well as sustainability in business and trade and building smart and resilient cities that will put the region in a prime position for economic growth in the post-pandemic global economy.

The first installment of the series will focus on strengthening the regional trade and supply chain for the speedy economic recovery of ASEAN to be followed by an open forum with key leaders from the Department of Trade and Industry, EU Delegation, and EU Business Council, and Konrad-Adenauer Stiftung. The second installment will delve into sustainability in business and trade and will discuss the ASEAN perspective on the European Green Deal. Lastly, the third installment of the conference will explore building smart and resilient cities for high growth, and will feature a presentation on smart city pathways for developing Asia with representatives from Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Asian Development Bank. The event will also feature multi-sectoral open forum sessions featuring key areas of the economy with the aim of providing an avenue of discussion for the recovery of the region.