The Federation of Thai Industries (FTI) has said the plan to allow foreigners to own land in Thailand would be a new economic stimulus, especially beneficial to the tourism sector’s gradual recovery.

The comment was made in response to a plan by the Ministry of Interior to revive a measure allowing foreigners to own one rai of land in the country if they invest 40 million baht.

FTI Chairman Kriengkrai Thiennukul stated that the plan would provide long-term economic and investment benefits and encourage wealthy foreigners to consider retiring in the kingdom.

The FTI also said it would assist and support real estate companies impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

According to the Real Estate Information Center (REIC), foreigners remain interested in Thai residential property. This is especially true for Chinese nationals, who accounted for 45 percent of foreign condo ownership in the first quarter of 2022.

REIC reported that between 2018 and 2020, a total of 34,653 condominium units worth a total of 145.6 billion baht were transferred to foreigners. It added that during the first quarter of 2022, Bangkok and Chon Buri were the most popular locations for foreigners wanting to own condominium units. The other three top provinces were Samut Prakan, Phuket, and Chiang Mai.

Source : NATIONAL NEWS BUREAU OF THAILAND

Brunei Darussalam scored high in environmental, social and governance (ESG) category with 83 per cent in the 2021 edition of the M&A Attractiveness Index by Mergers and Acquisitions Research Centre (MARC) at the Bayes Business School.

The index ranks countries on their capacity to attract and sustain mergers and acquisitions activity based on six factor groups.

On finance and economy, it almost reaches a score of 50 per cent. However, the Sultanate slipped eight places down to 72nd out of 148 countries while in the Southeast Asian region, the Sultanate was at the seventh spot with an overall score of 47 per cent.

United States (US) and Singapore ranked first and second, followed by United Kingdom (UK) and Canada.

The latest annual ranking – the first to incorporate the true effects that the COVID pandemic has had on individual nations as foreign direct investment targets – compared deal activity and attractiveness to investors of 148 countries.

Compiled by Dr Naaguesh Appadu Research Fellow at Bayes, the report also provides additional analysis into the opportunities and challenges facing countries, including the clear emergence of ESG considerations from investors when completing a deal and the importance of strong national infrastructures.

Source: Borneo Bulletin

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Brunei Darussalam maintained the 12th spot in the Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI) 2022, with a 61 per cent score. It secured full marks for its prayer venues and airport, and a 90 per cent score for its halal dining.

Additionally, the Sultanate ranked ninth in the services category, and the top 10th destinations after Indonesia, Turkey, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and Egypt.

The services category evaluates the availability of core Muslim-friendly services and key touch points at the destination.

Most services, such as the restaurant sector, were at a standstill with forced temporary closures in 2020 and 2021.

They are just re-opening after a long pause. 

As such, data collected in 2019 was taken as the reference point for several sub-criteria under this category.

The GMTI 2023 is foreseen to be able to capture the actual state of these services re-opening after the pandemic.

With the impact of the pandemic easing, the tourism sector is again finding its footing and has begun to show significant developments in the last few months, the report said.

Source: Borneo Bulletin
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Hengyi Industries Sdn Bhd (Hengyi Industries) signed an Islamic Syndicated Term Financing Agreement totalling USD263 million with Bank Islam Brunei Darussalam (BIBD), Baiduri Bank and Perbadanan Tabung Amanah Islam Brunei (Perbadanan TAIB), marking the start of a new collaboration between Hengyi Industries and the local financial institutions.

Hengyi Industries Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Chen Lian Cai, BIBD Board of Director Junaidi bin Haji Masri, BIBD Acting Managing Director and CEO Hajah Noraini binti Haji Sulaiman, Baiduri Bank CEO Ti Eng Hui and Perbadanan TAIB Acting Managing Director Edzwan Zukri bin Pehin Orang Kaya Johan Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Haji Adanan were the guests of honour.

Hengyi Industries CEO Chen highlighted His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu’izzaddin Waddaulah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Haji Omar ‘Ali Saifuddien Sa’adul Khairi Waddien, Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam’s titah during His Majesty’s 76th birthday calling for focus on the economic development in the nation towards achieving the goals of Brunei Vision 2035.

“The financing cooperation with BIBD, Baiduri Bank and Perbadanan TAIB is in line with the initiatives of His Majesty, and also symbolises the strong commitment and support by the local financial institutions,” he said.

He added that it also demonstrates Hengyi’s commitment and efforts in supporting the development of the local financial sector.

Soure: Borneo Bulletin 

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Directorate of Industrial Supervision and Inspection, Ministry of Industry has been implementing the project namely Hybrid Seminar on Innovation and Young Entrepreneurship for Regional Development by the support of Mekong-Lancang Cooperation Special Fund (MLCSF) 2018 with the following objectives:

1)     developing the innovation practices among entrepreneurs in Mekong region,

2)     sharing and disseminating the best experiences among successful young entrepreneurs and

3)     building up the networking with public, private and government as youth development for economic development of Mekong regions

The project is being implemented in three phases. As the first phase of the project, the seminar was held in Park Royal Hotel, Nay Pyi Taw in 2019. In that seminar, 75 participants from MLC countries participated and shared their experiences concerned with innovation and entrepreneurship in Mekong region. At the first seminar, (6) types of innovation focusing on Profit Model, Network, Structure, Process, Product Performance and Product System were shared out of 10 types totally.

          The planned follow-up seminars couldn’t be held timely due to the third wave of COVID-19 situations in Myanmar. In accordance with the COVID-19 Discipline by the Ministry of Health, the Hybrid Seminar on Innovation and Young Entrepreneurship for Regional Development was held from July 22 to 24, 2022 in Office 30, Ministry of Industry, Nay Pyi Taw. In that seminar, thirty participants from Cambodia, China, Laos PDR, Thailand, and Vietnam participated virtually and seventy representatives from Myanmar's Ministry of Industry, state/region, union territory, and MSMEs participated physically.

          In this seminar, led by local and international experts, recalling the knowledge learned during the first seminar, including its shortcomings and strengths and discussion of the participants' feedback are carried out. And, human-centered innovations such as service-related innovations focused on human resources, brand loyalty, building a strong connection with customers and sharing Knowledge for MSMEs for using a broader digital system were conducted in this seminar. Moreover, there was a panel discussion with the topic “Collaboration between Public, Private & Government for Entrepreneurship Development” participated by representatives from MLC countries, deliberating on how governments should support for entrepreneurship development, how government, private sector and NGOs should collaborate to strengthen the entrepreneurship, and as well as discussed about the strength, weakness, opportunities and threats faced by entrepreneurs in the region.

By organizing this seminar, the benefits acquired are as follows:

(i)       promoting the entrepreneurship and innovation among the young entrepreneurs in MLC region and sharing best practices,

(ii)            exchanging the views and experiences between government and private sector,

(iii)          developing innovative practices by utilizing advanced technologies among MSMEs

(iv)          building network among MSMEs in States and Regions, and

(v)            understanding more about the current implementation status of regional countries for encouraging entrepreneurship

The Incubation Network, in partnership with the Global Plastic Action Partnership, UpLink by the World Economic Forum, and the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, have recently launched the Plastic Waste to Value Southeast Asia Challenge to tackle plastic waste mismanagement in the region.

Established to accelerate innovative solutions that are focused on plastic recycling and upcycling in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam, the challenge is excited to unveil five innovators that will be participating in the tailored development program over the course of five months.

The challenge received a total of 101 incredible applications through the UpLink platform. 48 shortlisted candidates were carefully assessed by academic researchers, corporate sustainability practitioners, innovators, and climate & circular economy specialists. The selected innovators will receive partnership building opportunities, mentorship, increased visibility, access to networks, and grants to scale their solutions.

“Working in partnership with the Global Plastic Action Partnership and the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, The Incubation Network is committed to support solutions that will enhance waste management ecosystems and accelerate the move towards a circular future for plastics,” says Simon Baldwin, Global Head of Circularity, SecondMuse. “We are very excited. The selected innovators have demonstrated a compelling opportunity for growth and economic & environmental impact!”

Urgent sustainable solutions are needed to combat the ever-growing global plastic waste pollution crisis. Between 2017-2019, an estimated 2 million tonnes of plastic waste leakage per year came from Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. This accounts for 17 per cent of annual global marine plastic waste leakage. Plastic waste that is not polluting waterways is either burnt or dumped - posing a significant threat to environmental and biodiversity health.

“Innovative solutions are critical to address plastic waste management in the region. We are thrilled to have worked closely with The Incubation Network and the Alliance to End Plastic Waste to identify an impressive cohort of Top Innovators with high-impact solutions that bring value to plastic waste. We look forward to providing the Innovators with greater visibility and impact in the region.” says Poonam Watine, Knowledge Specialist, Global Plastic Action Partnership.

Solutions have been assessed based on their contributions to at least one of the three focus areas: (1) Increasing the amount of plastic waste managed, processed and/or recycled; (2) supporting the operational improvement of plastic waste management and recycling; and (3) improving working conditions of enterprises in plastic waste management and recycling.

The Plastic Waste to Value Southeast Asia Challenge cohort includes:

Bank Sampah Bersinar (Indonesia)
Bank Sampah Bersinar is a social enterprise that provides community-based waste management solutions.

ENVIROTECH WASTE RECYCLING INC. (Philippines)
Envirotech collects Single-use plastic (SUPs) and turns them into useful products such as school chairs.

Kibumi (Indonesia)
Kibumi is a disruptive startup company that strengthens the plastic recycling supply chain through digitalised and modernised waste collection points.

Plastic People (Vietnam)
Plastic People transforms plastic waste into useful and upcycled products such as furniture or accessories.

TerraCycle Global Foundation (Thailand)
TerraCycle Global Foundation provides simple, innovative, and high impact solutions to prevent, remove, and recycle waste from the environment.

“Ending plastic waste is a clear and urgent necessity recognising both the environmental costs and economic losses when plastic waste is not recovered,” says Nicholas Kolesch, Vice President Projects at the Alliance to End Plastic Waste. “With growing demand for post-consumer plastic, the Plastic Waste to Value Southeast Asia Challenge will support ventures in the region to close this gap, getting plastics out of the environment and back into a circular economy.”

The Plastic Waste to Value Southeast Asia Challenge is led by The Incubation Network, the Global Plastic Action Partnership, UpLink by the World Economic Forum, and funded by the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, and supported by SecondMuse, The Circulate Initiative, Global Affairs Canada, and DEFRA.

About The Incubation Network

The Incubation Network is an impact-driven initiative that sources, supports and scales holistic innovative solutions to combat plastic pollution and improve the livelihoods of vulnerable groups in waste management and recycling systems.

Part of a highly collaborative community of startups and entrepreneurs, investors, partners and programs, The Incubation Network works together with industry players to tackle key barriers to address plastic leakage and advance a circular economy. This includes sourcing and supporting, to scaling early-stage or pre-investment solutions and connecting compatible ecosystem players to reinforce the value chain in waste management and recycling.

Established in 2019, The Incubation Network is a partnership between non-profit organisation, The Circulate Initiative and impact innovation company, SecondMuse. The Incubation Network is open to interested collaborators, corporations, and mentors, looking to address plastic leakage and advance a circular economy in South & Southeast Asia.

For more information, visit: www.incubationnetwork.com.

About Global Plastic Action Partnership

As part of the World Economic Forum’s dedication to accelerating impact under the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), The Global Plastic Action Partnership (GPAP) was launched in September 2018 at the Sustainable Development Investment Summit.

GPAP partners with countries and global partners to champion a shift towards a new plastics economy both by addressing the root causes of plastic pollution, from production to consumption and reuse, and by improving waste management efforts downstream. GPAP brings together governments, regional bodies, international organisations and businesses, as well as innovators and civil society organisations on an impartial collaboration platform with the aim of creating dedicated communities and driving positive change. 

For more information, visit: https://globalplasticaction.org/

About the Alliance to End Plastic Waste

The Alliance to End Plastic Waste (Alliance) is a global non-profit organisation with the mission to end plastic waste in the environment. Its focus is implementing projects and investing in innovative solutions to develop or enhance waste management systems. ­­­­As of June 2022, its portfolio comprises over 50 projects across 30 countries worldwide.

Tackling plastic waste is a complex challenge that requires collective action. Since 2019, the Alliance has convened a global network of industry leaders across the plastics value chain, together with government, civil society, entrepreneurs, and communities to work towards advancing a circular economy for plastic waste.

For more information, visit: www.endplasticwaste.org

Source: Eco Business

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The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has onboarded almost 300 Filipino micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) for the ASEAN Online Sale Day (AOSD) – the largest online sale event in Southeast Asia that will take place on 8 to 10 August 2022.

The strengthening of the logistics relationship with Thailand will help the transport sector in Cambodia reduce costs and time, thereby luring more investment.

To make this deal sacrosanct, Ministry of Public Works and Transport secretary of state Koy Sodany and Danucha Pichayanan, secretary-general of Thailand’s National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC), signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on July 19 in Bangkok, Thailand.

The MoU is aimed at establishing cooperation in the spirit of mutual understanding and a goodwill framework, and enhancing closer ties between both countries in the field of logistics.

According to the deal, both parties will work on three areas, namely logistics policy and legal framework; logistics cost per gross domestic product (GDP) and logistics performance index (LPI); and strengthen institutional and stakeholder capacity in the field of logistics.

Chea Chandara, president of the recently-renamed Logistics and Supply Chain Business Association in Cambodia (Loscba), told The Post on July 20 that Cambodia and Thailand share a common border, across which they regularly transport goods. As such, the MoU will provide positive results for the parties, he said.

The transport sector plays an important role in economic activity, therefore when the transport sector is expensive and onerous, it will automatically undermine competitiveness and raise the price of goods, he added.

“Because Cambodia and Thailand have a lot of transport links every day, when there is an MoU, coordination with each other would certainly bring mutual benefits to both countries,” Chandara said, adding that he is not able to quantify the benefits as yet.

However, he is optimistic that the transport sector in Cambodia would give rise to a positive trend, thanks to ongoing infrastructure construction including roads, airports and ports.

For full article, please read here


Author: Hin Pisei

Source: The Phnom Penh Post 

During the January-June period this year, Cambodia’s top three export destinations were Vietnam, China and Japan, the report said, adding that the kingdom shipped products worth 1.17 billion dollars to Vietnam, 612 million dollars to China and 542 million dollars to Japan.

The RCEP free trade agreement comprises 15 Asia-Pacific countries including 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member states — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam — and their five trading partners, namely China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

Cambodian Ministry of Commerce’s undersecretary of state and spokesman Penn Sovicheat said RCEP and the Cambodia-China Free Trade Agreement (CCFTA), which both took effect on Jan. 1 this year, are a contributing factor to boost Cambodia’s exports.

“Our export growth is a testament to the larger market access of our products to other RCEP member countries with tariff concessions,” he told a press conference in Phnom Penh on Thursday. “The two FTAs have been giving a boost to our economic growth in the long term.”

Meanwhile, Sovicheat said China has played a leading role in assisting the least developed countries (LDCs) including Cambodia through preferential tariffs, noting that the support was crucial to helping the LDCs boost their economic development.

For full article, please read here


Author: Xinhua
Source: Khmer Times

Like most countries in the world, Southeast Asia's economies have made their own nationally determined contributions commitments during the UN climate conferences, most recently updated in 2021 during the Glasgow negotiations. During the Glasgow climate conference in 2021, most Southeast Asian countries announced their new climate targets, with net-zero targets to be achieved between 2050 and 2065. The new targets are more aggressive than before and will require an accelerated energy transition to be achieved. Currently, governments in Southeast Asia have plans to add more than 250 GW of solar and wind capacity over the next two decades, and this will likely be increased further when their power development plans are updated in the coming years.

Grid readiness for more intermittent renewables to be added to the power system

The current solar and wind renewable penetration across Southeast Asia is still relatively low, at 5% and 11% of total generation and installed capacity, respectively, compared with leading countries like Germany, which have already reached levels of 34% of generation and 55% of capacity from solar and wind. This level of renewable penetration is somewhat skewed by the large share of intermittent renewable capacity contributed by Vietnam, which over the past three years has added more than 20 GW of solar and wind capacity. Vietnam's renewable penetration is more than double the region's average, at 13% and 30% for generation and capacity, respectively. Although the level of solar and wind penetration is still relatively low, some countries are already facing challenges in dealing with the intermittency and grid congestion impeding the utilization of solar and wind generation.

Vietnam and Indonesia will face the toughest challenge to accommodate more renewables. The two countries have the most ambitious renewable target and greatest renewable potential, respectively, and are starting at two extreme ends of the spectrum, with Vietnam having more intermittent renewable capacity than the entire remainder of Southeast Asia and Indonesia having one of the smallest in the region. Despite the differences, they face grid congestion and challenges dealing with the intermittency from renewables, which will hinder future growth of solar and wind capacity.

Grids in Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand do not face any challenges to accommodate the operating intermittent renewable capacity thanks to a low renewable penetration and robust requirements before capacity could be developed. Going forward, as solar and wind additions pick up pace (either through increased tender sizes or more aggressive government plans/targets), similar to the rest of the region in their energy transition journey, locations with sufficient grid capacity will dwindle, and similar grid enhancements will be needed.

Countries in Southeast Asia are currently targeting to add close to 50 GW of solar and wind capacity by 2030, and this target is slated to be increased further. Most of the countries have either experienced first-hand the impact to the grid and power system caused by the rise of intermittent renewables or have witnessed the issues faced by their regional neighbors. Each country is facing a different situation in terms of the current state of their grids to handle the existing and planned intermittent renewable additions, but they have all incorporated the lessons from the region into the power development plan, which is to upgrade the grid infrastructure to facilitate the connection for more renewables, in line with their ambitious targets. The plans for renewable additions need to keep pace with the grid upgrades to ensure that the additional renewables can be utilized.

The plans for grid upgrades to support more renewables will come at a high cost. This is because, unlike conventional generators, which can be located closer to the load centers, renewables have a significantly larger land requirement and will need to be developed further away, where land is cheaper. Therefore, as the share of renewables in the generation mix increases, so will the investments in transmission infrastructure. Many of the Southeast Asian countries currently have government-regulated power tariffs, which are set at levels below the cost of supply; therefore, it will definitely be challenging to finance increasingly larger grid investments.

Regulation and policy readiness to facilitate the addition of more renewables

Most of the legacy power development plans for Southeast Asian countries mainly focused on generation capacity additions to serve the strong power demand growth. Capacity expansion planning was weighted on total supply adequacy rather than supply reliability and flexibility. In recent years, more plans are proposed to accommodate the addition of more intermittent renewables across all the Southeast Asian countries' national power development plans. However, beyond enhancements to the transmission and distribution grid, it remains to be seen what the countries will be doing from the regulation and policy perspective to facilitate the development of more flexible generation sources of power demand and supply.

Currently, the main regulatory and policy tool being utilized to ensure that additional intermittent renewable generation does not impact the power system comes from requiring grid impact studies or power system studies before the development approval is given. Both the project developer and the transmission and distribution company are responsible for carrying out these studies together. Such studies have been in place for countries like Malaysia (large-scale solar photovoltaic [PV] tender), the Philippines (Energy Regulatory Commission interconnection agreement), and Thailand (grid connection code) and utilized effectively, as no grid-related curtailment/congestion issues have been reported. Most recently, following the grid issues faced in Vietnam, there is now a clear set of grid-related conditions placed alongside each newly proposed solar and wind project, when they are seeking to be added to the approved national project list.

Long-term power/energy development plans are useful in guiding necessary investments and the corresponding policy and regulatory changes to achieve the target fuel mix. However, in Southeast Asia, many of the long-term plans have a planning horizon of up to 25 years and are being updated frequently. The most frequent updates to power development plans are being done annually, and even the less frequently updated ones are being updated before a quarter of the planning horizon period is over—even though the plans cover an outlook horizon of between 10 and 25 years and typically consist of relatively significant changes. Frequent revisions to the development plans would not be an issue if the changes were not drastic, however, this has not been the case for many countries.

The power development plans across the countries in Southeast Asia appear to still be based mostly on planning based on conventional generation. Although they do mention the need for increased flexibility to allow more intermittent renewables to be added to the generation mix, there is little mention of the addition of flexible generation. This will need to be addressed in future plans to provide more clarity for potential independent power producers to attract investments in such flexible generation sources.

Staying consistent in planning and the creation of renewable energy zones will help coordinate power system planning and allow for faster-pace development of solar and wind capacity. This would be highly beneficial as it will help optimize the limited investment capital available for investments in grid enhancements by concentrating the capital on areas that have better renewable resources and more economically efficient transmission investment outcomes. In addition, this will provide a clear road map for investors and reduce the investment uncertainty on the areas where additional solar and wind capacity and flexible generation can be developed over the planning horizon.

Technology readiness to handle the increasing intermittency in the power system

The recognition of the need for more flexibility in the power system across most power development plans in Southeast Asia bodes well for the accommodation of more intermittent renewable capacity. However, for many of the plans, this is the very first time this has been included and it remains a relatively new concept for much of the region. The supporting mechanisms, such as capacity payment/market, ancillary service market, or frequency regulation service, are not implemented or are still at a very early stage.

Flexible generation is not a newly established technology, but the status quo needs to be changed to enable its development in Southeast Asia. There is currently no clearly defined remuneration mechanism for the delivery of frequency regulation services for batteries, as the only revenue stream is through the sale of electricity, which needs to change. Gas-fired generation is technically capable of playing a role in managing the intermittency, but the current contracting structure, based on a high level of utilization and fuel contracting with high fixed offtake obligations, does not allow for it to play a flexible role. The current gas generation fleet is also not suitable to play a peaking role. Its efficiency and corresponding fuel cost are greatly affected by lower utilization—as much as 300% higher than a baseload plant.

Source: S&P Global

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