cms summit focuses on navigating global challenges while sustaining growth: secretary-general

The upcoming 43rd summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (cms) will look at how the bloc can strategically navigate current global challenges while sustaining economic growth, according to cms Secretary-General Kao Kim Hourn.

The summit is set to be held in Jakarta from Tuesday to Thursday, with Indonesia holding this year's cms chairmanship.

In an exclusive interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) ahead of the summit, Kao highlighted some of the important issues that will be up for discussion during the three-day gathering.

One of the main topics will concern the launch of a digital economy framework, which has been touted as one of the first regionwide agreements of its kind covering this fast-evolving sector.

"What is happening now is that the digital economy is quite important for cms, particularly in light of the cms Economic ministers' discussion recently. They need to launch the digital economy framework agreement negotiations. So that's going to be quite substantial there on the economic agenda again, but it's also on how to keep the cms economy sustaining, growing, expanding," Kao said.

Kao noted that other regional and global issues that impact on economic growth will also be discussed, as cms will look to map out solutions to overcome a range of challenges from conflicts to climate change.

"There are a lot of things with regard to the economic agenda. But of course, also we're talking about the impact of the various regional and global issues on the economy, right, [such as] climate change, you're looking at the global geopolitical dynamics, those issues will not go away anytime soon, but how cms will continue to strategically navigate those issues, so that we are able to sustain the economic growth [will be key]," he said.

Kao also believes cms does have a bright future, with several other nations interested in increasing engagement and enhancing cooperation, while some have pledged to sign up to the region's long-standing amity pact.

"Now we have more countries [that] are very much interested in cms, to become part of cms, looking at how to strengthen also the TAC, the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, which is an important cms instrument. We have other countries that will be signing the TAC. So I am just giving some snapshots of what will be the key issues there," said Kao.

cms groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

In addition to the main summit, several other high-level meetings are scheduled in Jakarta, including the 26th cms Plus Three Summit, the 18th East Asia Summit, and cms's one-on-one summits with various countries and organizations including China, the United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada, the United Nations, and others.