US-ASEAN Business Council Hosts AI Workshop to Strengthen AI Public-Private Collaboration across ASEAN
During the Public-Private Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence (AI), the US-ASEAN Business Council (USABC), in partnership with Indonesia's Ministry of Communications and Digital Affairs, convened its second regional AI workshop on September 25, 2025, in Jakarta, Indonesia. The workshop brought together Southeast Asian AI policymakers, U.S. industry thought leadership, and local stakeholders to advance multistakeholder dialogue on the importance of best practices to support a robust AI ecosystem throughout ASEAN. Discussions centered on ASEAN’s AI opportunities, key enablers, and public-private mechanisms to support further collaboration.
“There is a clear interest from all stakeholders to work together to thread the needle between leveraging AI’s opportunities and addressing potential concerns,” said Dr. James Andrade, Singapore Chief Country Representative and Senior ASEAN Advisor of the US-ASEAN Business Council. “With a supportive policy environment and robust partnerships, Southeast Asia is well positioned to become one of the biggest beneficiaries from greater AI adoption.”
The workshop featured opening and keynote remarks by Mr. Wijaya Kusumwardhana, Expert Staff to the Minister of Communications and Digital Affairs of Indonesia. Keynote remarks were also delivered by Ms. Thao Anh Tran, Economic Chief of the U.S. Mission to ASEAN; Ms. Evelyn Goh, Director, International Relations, Policy and Strategy, Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore and Chair of the ASEAN Working Group on AI Governance and Ethics (WG-AI); Ms. Isya Hanum Kresnadi, Government Affairs and Public Policy Manager at Google; and Mr. Frederico Costa, AI and Data Policy Lead for APAC at Amazon Web Services.
The workshop also convened expert panelists from the Ministry of Communications and Digital Affairs of Indonesia, Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore, Electronic Transactions Development Agency of Thailand, ASEAN Secretariat, Center for Digital Society, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Amazon Web Services, Google, Meta, Salesforce, Qualcomm International Inc., and Cisco Systems. Speakers and panelists highlighted the importance of adopting a holistic, risk-based approach to support an AI-ready economy and responsible AI adoption throughout its lifecycle.
On the sidelines of the Dialogue and workshop, USABC also held productive discussions with senior officials, including Dr. Vivi Yulaswati, Deputy for Digital Economy and Transformation, Ministry of National Development Planning of Indonesia; Mr. Luis Miguel B. Planas, Assistant Secretary for Management Information Systems Service, Department of Information and Communications Technology of the Philippines; and Ms. Evelyn Goh, Director, International Relations Policy, and Strategy, Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore and Chair of the WG-AI.
USABC is committed to serving as a trusted partner to support ASEAN’s digital transformation. We are very grateful to the Ministry of Communications and Digital Affairs of Indonesia for the opportunity to host our workshop as part of their Public-Private Dialogue on AI and look forward to collaborating with ASEAN policymakers again in 2026 to implement the region’s AI ambitions. We also thank our members, Amazon Web Services, Google, Meta, Salesforce, Qualcomm, and Cisco Systems for their support in USABC’s inaugural AI Workshop Series program.