Singapore (VNA) – 2023 will be atough year for ASEAN as th🦹e bloc may face many challenges in the time to come, heard the 2023 Regional Outlook Forum (ROF 2023) held in Singapore on January 10 by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies🐷 (ISEAS-YusofIshak).

Under the theme “Understanding the Driver of Change ina disrupted world”, ROF 2023 focused on discussing impacts of world conflictson the security environment in Southeast Asia, drivers of changes and disruptionin the regional economic panorama. Sharon Seah, Coordinator of the ASEAN Studies Centreand Climate Change in Southeast Asia Programme at the institute, said ASEAN is forecast to face many challenges in 2023 - fromthe immediate challenges coming from elections in Malaysia, the Philippines in2022; elections in Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar in 2023, to the long-termchallenge of maintaining solidarity and the key role of ASEAN in a changingworld. Therefore, the bloc needs to realise unity and solidarity as wellas promoting a clearer version of the “ASEAN outlook on the Indo-Pacific”. The official emphasised that the biggest challenge forASEAN is that the global economic outlook will be very difficult in 2023. TheInternational Monetary Fund (IMF) has lowered its global growth forecast to2.7%. About a third of the world’s economies are forecast tofall into recession this year, while the remaining two-thirds are alsostruggling to cope with supply disruptions, inflation, and price hikes. Sharon Seah acknowledged that as the ASEAN Chair in2023, Indonesia should harmonise trade agreements such as the Comprehensiveand Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), theComprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), and Regional Comprehensive Economy Partnership (RCEP) to optimise the bloc’s benefitsas trade is a vital area for ASEAN. ROF is an annual conference organised by the Singapore-based institute to analyse the major trends and issues that will have the greatest impact on Southeast Asia in the short and medium terms, and predicting the situation in the regional countries. This year's edition marked a return after two years of being held online due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The forum saw the participation of former top officials and scholars in the region./.