BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Dec 9 (Borneo Bulletin/ANN): Brunei Minister at the Prime Minister’s Office and Minister of Finance and Economy II Dato Seri Setia Dr Awang Mohd Amin Liew outlined three key strategic areas to build an Asean-South Korea (ROK) start-up economic community as a driving force in the global economy.
The three areas are: education and exchange; policy and regulatory improvements; and investment and mutual growth.
The need to create a cooperative start-up cluster oriented towards Asean and the South Korea was highlighted by Dato Seri Setia Dr Awang Haji Mohd Amin Liew, who is also the Chairman of DARe (Darussalam Enterprise), in his keynote address during the opening of the first virtual Asean-ROK Start-up Festival yesterday.
The minister launched the Asean-ROK Start-up Festival in his capacity as guest of honour.
“By prioritising education and information exchange, as well as aiming to establish and operate an integrated online platform to enable information exchange, networking and investment between start-ups, we can provide a steady foundation for a healthy and nurturing environment for our start-ups.
"I believe this cultivation and idea-sharing environment will provide ample support and motivation for many to transform their vision from being fresh ideas on paper to thriving enterprises.
“Secondly, we aim to provide support to our future start-ups through our action plans in improving policies and regulations to pave a clearer road to success. This is where cooperation between Asean member states and the ROK as policy makers is most crucial.
“We must work together to make sure this start-up cluster continues to flourish by continuously conducting joint research on improving start-up policies, instilling cooperation policy on start-up ecosystem, policy planning and sharing sandbox contents from each country to ensure effective regulatory response that would benefit us all.
"For our start-ups to benefit, we need to begin talks of sharing skilled resources, strengthening trade agreements, improving start-up visas and facilitating an investment support system that would allow for ease of venture capital investing,” Dr Awang said.
“We aim to strengthen the ecosystem through investments and mutual growth, where we acknowledge that funding is also a key component. Investments in terms of capacity-building and monetary are crucial to a start-up – not just to start but also to expand.
"An establishment of an Asean-ROK Joint Investment Fund and joint accelerators could provide an enormous boost for start-ups to scale up – not only that, it could also further motivate innovation.
“It is exciting to think of the many possibilities and areas of collaboration we can venture on together. I would like to take this opportunity to thank and applaud the South Korea for initiating the Asean-ROK Start-up Ecosystem Study.
The study has enabled Asean member states and South Korea to work together and gather information about the start-up ecosystem of each country, identify gaps and begin to work on the solutions to close those gaps,” Dato Seri Setia Dr Awang Haji Mohd Amin Liew said.
“The festival is only a first step. Let’s continue to work together to ensure the future of start-ups in Asean and South Korea remains bright and hopefully, decorated with fireworks, too,” he said. - Borneo Bulletin/ANN
