USABC Convenes Roundtable on "Outlook and Partnerships for Foundational Infrastructure to Secure the Digital Economy: at the 2nd ASEAN Workshop on Implementing Best Practices for Submarine Cable Protection

(SINGAPORE) — On October 22, the US-ASEAN Business Council (USABC) hosted a roundtable session on “Outlook and Partnership for Foundational Infrastructure to Secure the Digital Economy” as part of the 2nd ASEAN Workshop on Implementing Best Practices for Submarine Cable Protection in Singapore. The event brought together government officials from ASEAN Member States (AMS), industry practitioners, and technical experts to examine emerging challenges and identify areas for greater regional submarine cable cooperation.

The roundtable featured keynote presentations from Ms. Annabel Lee, Director of Public Policy ASEAN and Strategic Campaigns APAC at Amazon Web Services, and Mr. Nico Roehrich, Director Network Investments, APAC at Meta. It comprised ASEAN representatives from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Viet Nam, and the ASEAN Secretariat.

Through scenario-based discussions, workshop participants explored practical challenges affecting submarine cable investments and resilience, including coordination across regulatory agencies, permitting timelines, and access to specialized vessels. The discussion also considered how implementing the Enhanced ASEAN Guidelines for Strengthening Resilience and Repair of Submarine Cables and strengthening regional cooperation could improve regulatory certainty and support timely cable repairs.

USABC thanks the Infocomm Media Development Authority of Singapore for the opportunity to be a part of this workshop, as well as Amazon Web Services and Meta for their support in making this event possible. We are also grateful for AMS’ active participation and look forward to hosting more engagements in future.