The First Informal Consultation Group Meeting for the Economic Outlook for Southeast Asia, China and India 2018 at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Headquarters was held on 3 March 2017.
The opening remarks were jointly made by H.E. Maria Theresa Lazaro, Ambassador of the Philippines to France and Co-Chair of the Outlook Consultation Group; H.E. Pierre Duquesne, Ambassador of France to the OECD and Chair of the Development Centre Governing Board; and H.E. Hiroshi Oe, Ambassador of Japan to the OECD and Co-Chair of the OECD South-East Asia Regional Programme. The main session of the meeting focused on the macroeconomic challenges and thematic focus of 2018 – Digital economy in Emerging Asia.
Generally, discussions revolved on the parameters of the thematic focus of the Economic Outlook for Southeast Asia, China and India 2018. Kensuke Tanaka, Head of Asia Desk, OECD Development Centre provided the background information, production, and consultation of the outlook. Since it has a relation to the thematic focus being considered for the 2018 outlook, Lorrayne Porciuncula, OECD economist, delved on the Broadband Policies for Latin America and the Caribbean: A Digital Economy Toolkit. This is an example of a joint project that could be pursued jointly by the Southeast Asian region. The OECD was able to get feedback from participants to structure the thematic focus that will be incorporated into the upcoming 2018 edition of the outlook.
