3. Artificial intelligence (AI) presents significant opportunities but also considerable risks. How should ASEAN cooperate to maximise AI’s economic benefits while mitigating its downsides?
AI presents tremendous opportunities, but without effective cooperation it could also widen development gaps among ASEAN member states. I believe ASEAN should view AI as development infrastructure rather than merely a commercial technology.
First, ASEAN needs common principles for AI governance, including safety, transparency, personal data protection, accountability, and algorithm auditing in sensitive sectors such as finance, healthcare, education, public administration, and cybersecurity.
Second, ASEAN should avoid a fragmented regulatory landscape where each country develops entirely separate AI rules. A mutual recognition framework for AI standards would allow businesses to scale products across the region while reducing compliance costs.
Third, AI policy must be accompanied by workforce policy. Workers in manufacturing, logistics, agriculture, services, and public administration will face significant disruption if reskilling efforts fail to keep pace. ASEAN’s AI cooperation agenda should therefore include a strong pillar focused on digital skills for SMEs, blue-collar workers, women, and young people.
This approach aligns closely with the spirit of AFF 2026, which emphasises people-centred development and seeks solutions to build a stronger and more resilient ASEAN.
4. Vietnam is becoming increasingly proactive in proposing regional initiatives, including the ASEAN Future Forum. What distinctive contribution could Vietnam make to ASEAN’s development over the next decade?
Vietnam can leave a distinctive mark on ASEAN by acting as an agenda-setter rather than merely a participant.
What sets Vietnam apart is its ability to combine economic development, political stability, and strategic proactiveness. Vietnam has a deep appreciation for the value of peace, integration, and industrialisation, while also possessing extensive experience in balancing relationships with major powers.
Over the next decade, Vietnam’s contribution should focus on three areas: facilitating open strategic dialogue through platforms such as AFF, leading cooperation initiatives in the Mekong region and smart city development, and helping shape regional standards on digital economy, AI, green growth, and inclusive development.
This role is consistent with a country that is becoming more economically mature and increasingly confident in its international engagement like Vietnam.
5. From an economic perspective, what must Vietnam do over the next five to ten years to become not only an investment destination but also a centre for innovation and value creation in ASEAN?
To become a regional innovation and value-creation hub, Vietnam must move beyond a growth model that relies primarily on low-cost labour, industrial land, and tax incentives.
Foreign direct investment will remain important, but the more important question is how much value Vietnam can retain within those production chains. Over the next five to ten years, the top priority should be strengthening domestic capabilities.
Vietnam’s semiconductor strategy to 2030, with a vision to 2050, aims to establish at least 100 design companies, one small-scale fabrication facility, 10 packaging and testing plants, annual semiconductor revenues exceeding US$25 billion, and a workforce of more than 50,000 engineers and graduates between 2024 and 2030.
This is the right direction, but it must be supported by higher education reform, greater investment in research and development, stronger intellectual property protection, the development of deep-tech venture capital, and policies that encourage meaningful linkages between FDI corporations and Vietnamese firms.
If Vietnam focuses solely on attracting factories, it will remain an investment destination. If it can develop expertise, data capabilities, design capacity, standards, brands, and innovation networks, it can become a genuine centre of value creation within ASEAN.
Story: June Pham
