At today’s inaugural Asean Inclusive Growth Summit organised by Mastercard in Kuala Lumpur, His Royal Highness Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah set a tone both reflective and forward-looking. His message was clear: the measure of Asean’s success will no longer be its ability to grow alone, but its ability to grow together.
Nearly six decades since its founding, Asean has evolved from a geopolitical bloc into one of the world’s most dynamic economic regions. Its combined GDP now approaches US$4trillion, with 700 million people contributing to what would be the fifth-largest economy on earth.
