Young professionals discuss economic integration at Asean conference

The FinanceASEAN conference was organised by the Asean Young Professional Network (AYPN) as part of its efforts to help the region achieve effective integration by raising engagement of graduates, young executives and aspiring entrepreneurs on Asean matters.
“We brought in 700 people for the conference with Maybank and Deloitte as our headline partners,” said Fadli M Zaini, the associate manager of AYPN.
The conference presented the six strategic priorities including optimising human-capital potential and representing young professional voices.
“We want to advance integration by identifying challenges and opportunities ahead,” Fadli said in an interview.
He said FinanceASEAN was AYPN’s inaugural event in the region.
AYPN is also expanding its operations from the UK to Southeast Asia.
Fadli said FinanceASEAN would act as a platform for Asean’s future leaders to discuss the current situation, challenges and advancements relating to the region’s financial and capital markets.
“I look at the demand in the market, especially with the current falling oil prices, and I think we need that more than ever as an incentive for us to move forward.
“If we can’t deal with it domestically, at least we can move forward together as a region,” he said.
Fadli, who was the moderator for a session on economic integration during FinanceASEAN, said that among the greatest challenges faced in the region were red tape and a lack of public-private partnership (PPP).
He said that although many businesses were interested in PPP, having governments participate could be very difficult, either because they are unresponsive or there is political sensitivity.
“We need to look at how the government can help with private-sector development as well.”
The panel during the session consisted of an |associate partner at McKinsey & Company, Ee Huei Koh; the head of international strategy at the |Bank of Thailand, Pariwat Kanithasen; Peter Mumford, Southeast Asia regional director for economic and trade policy at the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office; and a regional cooperation specialist at the Asian Development Bank, Alfredo Perdiguero.