US-ASEAN Business Council Leads Mission to 9th Annual ASEAN Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting
(Bali) On March 29-31, the US-ASEAN Business Council (USABC) led a delegation of leading American businesses to the 9th Annual Meeting of ASEAN Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting (AFMGM) in Bali, Indonesia. The USABC delegation was led by the co-chairs of its financial services committee: Amol Gupte, ASEAN Head and Country CEO for Singapore at Citi; Mark Eggleton, Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Chubb; and Amb. Ted Osius, USABC President & CEO.
In line with the priorities of the 9th AFMGM and consistent with Indonesia’s ASEAN chairmanship themes, the USABC delegation presented a whitepaper to the ministers and governors titled “Towards a Future- Proof ASEAN Economy: Leveraging Digitalization and Sustainability”. The whitepaper provided analyses and proposals in three key areas critical to the financial sector namely, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and supply chains; recent developments in the digital economy; and investing in sustainable growth.
During the AFMGM’s special consultation session with the delegation, Ambassador Osius highlighted USABC’s efforts to support sustainable growth across ASEAN, “Our cooperation has stood the test of time despite various global crises over the last few years, where the priority of focus was on accelerating post-pandemic economic recovery", he said. "Now, we can focus on resilient economic growth, and supporting sustainable and inclusive digital-led growth for ASEAN as a whole.”
In addition to formal events with the AFMGM, the delegation also had individual engagements with the Ministers and Governors bilaterally to discuss mutual integration and investment interests. Throughout these engagements, members of the USABC delegation reaffirmed their commitment to and partnership with the ASEAN governments, individually and collectively, to strengthen financial stability across the region.
Companies participating in the mission included Citi, Chubb, AIG, American Express, J.P. Morgan, Mastercard, Stripe, Moody’s, and VISA.