Japan plans to work with Southeast Asian countries and Australia on policies to reduce carbon emissions. As the country that proposed the “Asia Zero Emissions Community” (AZEC), Japan is stepping up decarbonisation efforts in Asia in general and Japan in particular, while also promoting plans to launch an emissions trading system by 2026 to achieve its emission reduction and green economy transformation goals.

Climate finance remains a major contentious issue in climate change negotiations. While there is just over two months to go before the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Azerbaijan, parties are striving to reach a consensus to make climate projects more affordable in developing countries.

The 21 ASEAN Chiefs of Defence Forces Meeting (ACDFM-21) kicked off in Vientiane, Laos on September 5 with the presence of high-ranking military delegations of the region.

Recently, more countries, including Azerbaijan, Malaysia, and Thailand, have applied to join the BRICS bloc, which represents the leading emerging economies worldwide. The growing prominence and appeal of this group are attracting significant attention, especially from nations in the Global South, as the BRICS Summit is set to take place at the end of October.

Flooding continued to afflict four northern provinces of Chiang Rai, Phitsanulok, Sukhothai, and Nong Khai of Thailand on September 1, according to Director-General of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Chaiwat Chuntirapong.

Minister of Public Security Sen. Lieut. Gen Luong Tam Quang delivered a call for enhanced regional cooperation against transnational crime, at the 18th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime (AMMTC-18) held in Vientiane on August 28.

The 9th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Food Security Ministerial Meeting (FSMM) in Trujillo, Peru, called for a comprehensive approach and urgent action to address regional and global food security challenges.

The ASEAN Committee in Cuba (ACC), grouping the embassies of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar and Malaysia, held an ASEAN flag raising ceremony in Havana on August 20 to mark the 57th founding anniversary of the bloc.

The Ho Chi Minh City Union of Friendship Organisations (HUFO) hosted a ceremony on August 18 to celebrate the 57th founding anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and 29 years since Vietnam joined the bloc.

The Vietnamese Embassy in Sri Lanka, in coordination with the Embassies of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Myanmar, held a ceremony to celebrate the 57th founding anniversary of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at the Indonesian Embassy's headquarters in Colombo on August 13.

A Vietnamese delegation led by Deputy Minister of Culture, Sport and Tourism Ho An Phong is attending the ASEAN-China Week that opened in the Chinese province of Shanxi on August 12.

ASEAN is on a positive trajectory to become the world’s fourth-largest economy by 2030 from the current fifth place, with the bloc’s gross domestic product (GDP) soaring 51% to 3.8 trillion USD in 2023 compared to 2.5 trillion USD in 2015, according to ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Deputy Secretary-General Satvinder Singh.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL) said that foreign direct investment (FDI) decreased by about 9.9% in 2023 compared to 2022.

The UK has just announced that it will restart negotiations on free trade agreements (FTAs), with a series of partners. In the context of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's government's efforts to restore the economy, the FTAs are expected to open the door to new cooperation, thereby boosting exports, attracting investment and solving the problem of high unemployment in the UK.