In pursuing the mandate of accelerating investment flows between the ASEAN Member States and Japan, the ASEAN-Japan Centre plans to conduct various investment promotion activities with a view to contributing to sustainable development and result-based oriented outcomes.
Investment policy analysis for institutional capacities
(1) High-level policy discussion between ASEAN high-ranking officials and Japanese investors
The high-level policy discussion provides opportunity for high-ranking officials, represented by either the heads of state or senior ministers, to convey latest and current information on new policies related to investment, new incentives and opportunities directly to the participants mainly comprising of Japanese business community including potential and existing investors and SMEs. It is aimed at developing the policy discussions to come up with strategic policy proposals to specific ASEAN investment policies and policies affecting investment in ASEAN Member States.
In FY2017, 26 high level policy discussions for nine countries – Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – were organized, attended by more than 2,700 participants. Given the nature of the activity, first-hand and official information was directly transferred to a large audience including the media people. The discussion also paved the way for potential new investment and new ventures to explore investment opportunities.
(2) Ministerial-level policy discussion program for CLMV
With the objective of narrowing the development gap, the Centre allocates additional resources specifically for CLMV (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam) to organize bilateral policy discussions among individual CLMV ministers, Japanese government officials and business-related people focusing on specific investment policies for sustainable development. The topics of policy discussions are identified with a view to producing policy recommendations for CLMV countries. Policy recommendations are prepared afterwards for each policy discussion and provided to respective CLMV countries.
In FY2017, seven bilateral discussions and business matching for CLMV countries were organized, of which six forums held in local cities, namely Osaka, Nagoya, Nagano, Maebashi, Yokohama, and Sendai, and one forum in Tokyo.
(3) Research and policy analysis on FDI trends in ASEAN
Under this project, the Centre conducts research and studies on FDI trends in ASEAN Member States. Staff of the Centre are building up their own research capacity and have embarked on new research topics useful for FDI policy making.
Knowledge-building for company strategy-making process
(1) ASEAN regional programs
The Centre provides up-to-date information on the ASEAN Economic Community and sub-regions in which Japanese companies are greatly interested. In addition, the Centre conducts lecture series on wide-ranging topics, such as logistics, fintech, taxation, market, human resources, legal system and dispute settlement, environment, ICT, halal products, FDI for inclusive and sustainable development, as well as the comprehensive program including all of these elements. The main venue for these activities is the ASEAN-Japan Hall. In FY2017, the Center held 32 topical investment lecture series, which attracted more than 3,560 participants in total.
(2) Networking with Japanese investors in local cities
The project provides opportunities for ASEAN officials to further enlarge its network linkages with relevant organizations and investors in local cities of Japan. It enhances sharing of information on both sides. In FY2017, six bilateral networking activities were conducted; one activity took place in three local cities of Japan in one round of visits, namely Osaka, Kyoto and Hiroshima; and the other five activities took places in Toyama, Wakayama, Fukuoka, Nagasaki and Okinawa.
Dissemination and outreaching
The Centre expands its outreach activity through continuously updating the information on its website and publications in an effort to further boost awareness and promote investment opportunities and business environment in the ASEAN Member States.
Environment, Social and Governance investment related projects:
ESG FDI in ASEAN
This is a new project launched in FY2018, providing information on success and failure cases on ESG (Environment, Social, and Governance) investment, in particular environmental aspect, and raising awareness of environmental impacts of investment and possible solution.
Emerging issues in FDI:
Production network beyond ASEAN: Supply chains in Indo-Pacific
Under this new project, a symposium will be organized providing knowledge on ASEAN and indo-pacific strategy to Japanese investors and ASEAN stakeholders including embassies in Japan.