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Singapore aims to streamline e-commerce rules, improve digital connectivity and implement what it calls an Asean single window.
The country plans to drive e-commerce and other wings of the digital economy within the region, when it assumes chairmanship of Asean next year.
This will be part of a larger push to help companies in the region expand, said the Minister for Trade and Industry, Lim Hng Kiang, who sketched out a business-driven agenda that Singapore intends to deliver. 
For example, e-commerce rules could be streamlined and business costs slashed.
"During our chairmanship year, Singapore intends to pursue a set of tangible and meaningful economic deliverables," said Lim, who was speaking at the Asean Conference 2017 at the country’s Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre.
Singapore will assume the Asean chairmanship in 2018, taking over from the Philippines, and plans to tap into global mega-trends such as the burgeoning digital economy to help the grouping's businesses grow, said Lim.
“We have identified e-commerce and other initiatives relating to the digital economy as a potential key priority for Singapore's Asean 2018 chairmanship,” the minister said. – The Straits Times

Japan puts IT to work for medical and nursing care

Japan has drafted a new growth strategy featuring the active use of information technology to streamline medical and nursing care to limit growing social security costs, as well as the use of foreign manpower to tackle the serious labour shortage, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
The new growth strategy will be compiled in June.
The draft contains measures to cope with the chronically low birthrate and greying population, to eventually boost the economy.
The Cabinet of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been compiling such strategies since 2013, and this is the fifth compilation.
In the medical and nursing care field, the latest draft states the government will make the most of technological innovation and build a new system to cope with “the 2025 problem” — when the generation of postwar baby boomers turn 75.
Specifically, the government aims to introduce a service to allow multiple medical institutions and hospitals to share patients’ basic information and findings from their medical examination, with their consent, at the time of their initial visit. 
It plans to start a trial project from fiscal 2017 with the hope of full-fledged operation in fiscal 2020. – The Japan News

Lotte gets approval for $884m Vietnam's Eco Smart City

The South Korean conglomerate has received the green light to build a multifunctional finance-trade-service centre in HCM City.
Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has selected Lotte group as the investor of a smart complex project in the city’s Thu Thiem New Urban Area. 
The project is set to cost the investor 20.1 trillion dong (US$884 million), excluding site clearance expenses. 
It aims to develop a multifunctional finance-trade-service and residential centre, in which finance, trade and service functions play a crucial role in the core area of Thu Thiem. 
Roads and technical infrastructure inside the complex and connecting with other areas in Thu Thiem will also be constructed under the project. 
The project is scheduled to be carried out in 72 months following approval of the investor and will be operated for 50 years by Lotte. 
Thu Thiem New Urban Area is located on the east of the Sai Gon River, facing District 1, with total area of 657 hectares.
 It is expected to be a new centre of finance, commerce and services, along with culture and entertainment in HCM City. – Viet Nam News