The Philippines and Australia strengthen joint military deterrence at ASEAN summit

Perdana Menteri Anwar Ibrahim has urged Asean member countries to diversify their food and medicine supply sources while strengthening the region's capacity for production. Speaking at the closing plenary session of the 49th Asean Summit, Anwar highlighted the risk of dependency on limited supplies of essential goods due to recent global disruptions.

He emphasized the need for increased intra-regional trade in agricultural inputs such as fertilizer, seeds, and livestock, as well as ensuring the uninterrupted flow of essential supplies during crises.

Anwar stressed the importance of food and medicine security as basic necessities for people, and called for strengthening regional resilience by boosting intra-regional trade in essential inputs, ensuring the steady flow of basic food and agricultural inputs through trusted green channels during crises, and optimizing collective regional reserves such as the Three-Curative Emergency Rice Reserves.

In the context of medicine, Anwar urged Asean countries to recognize mutual certification of sanitary standards among themselves, consolidate purchasing power and stockpiles, and expand regional production of medicines and vaccines. He stressed that the COVID-19 pandemic has shown how vulnerable supply chains can be during crises, and that climate change and environmental degradation increase the risk of future pandemics.

Asean must accelerate efforts to enhance access to medicines through mutual recognition of sanitary standards, consolidation of purchasing power and stockpiles, and building regional capacity for essential medicines and vaccines.

Regarding energy, Anwar emphasized the critical importance of the ASEAN Power Grid (APG), urging the region to accelerate efforts to expand the grid. He noted that individual national power grids cannot continue operating independently when regional energy demand is projected to quadruple by 2060. He emphasized that accelerating the APG would turn individual weaknesses into collective strengths, opening up new cross-border energy sharing opportunities and ensuring a reliable and assured energy future for Asean people.

On digital economy, Anwar welcomed the establishment of the ASEAN Digital Framework Agreement (DEFA), which he believes can help double the digital economy of the region to USD2 trillion by 2030. However, he cautioned that the development and management of AI should not be determined by the commercial interests of a few global technology companies.

He urged Asean countries to strengthen joint technological capabilities, protect data sovereignty, and establish a governance framework that promotes fairness and accountability.