Guidance

Growth Gateway: ASEAN Economic Strategic Plan Review on Impact Realisation (ASPIRE) (summary)

Published 28 May 2026

The Opportunities for Stronger UK-ASEAN Partnership document presents the findings of a United Kingdom (UK)-supported assessment of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Community over the past decade and sets out where a stronger UK-ASEAN partnership can add most value in the next strategy period. It highlights ASEAN’s scale and momentum, insights from reviewing more than 2,000 initiatives and 150 measures, and an estimated opportunity to grow UK exports by 2030 if the partnership focuses on the right sectors and removes the most important barriers.

The report distils 5 lessons from ASEAN’s last 10 years. Tariff reduction has largely run its course, so future gains will depend on improved trade facilitation and fewer non‑tariff barriers. Goods have driven growth, but services now offer the bigger upside. Green growth is essential to long‑term resilience, yet lags global peers and needs coordinated investment. Economic progress has not been shared equally, which calls for more inclusive policies and skills development. ASEAN’s flexible, multi‑speed approach has enabled progress, but limited stakeholder engagement and planning gaps have reduced its impact in some areas.

The UK’s strengths are mapped to ASEAN’s post‑2025 priorities, and 10 “unlock” areas are identified, grouped under 4 themes:

• harmonise with international norms by aligning product, safety and health standards and keeping free trade agreements up to date
• accelerate services by agreeing on digital rules, improving cybersecurity, expanding e‑government and deepening financial integration, including common approaches to local‑currency use
• grow green markets by embedding environmental provisions in trade agreements, clarifying rules for new clean‑tech industries, and scaling sustainable finance
• empower smaller firms through access to suitable finance and better financial literacy. Micro, small and medium‑sized enterprises (MSMEs) are central to inclusive growth

The report then focuses on trade and investment opportunities. It highlights 8 sectors where the UK has clear comparative advantages and ASEAN has strong demand:

• financial services
• chemicals and energy
• logistics
• information and communications technology (ICT) services
• healthcare
• utilities
• automotive and semiconductors
• it also notes niche openings in mining services and agricultural technology

Illustrative examples include UK financial technology (fintech) firms that can widen access to trade finance, clean‑energy and grid modernisation expertise that supports the transition, and chip-design capabilities that complement ASEAN’s manufacturing base.

The final report was prepared by the Growth Gateway programme team in collaboration with the Boston Consulting Group. It explains why an assessment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is needed at the end of the AEC Blueprint 2025 and sets out a forward plan to inform the next strategy period. The purpose is to evaluate what worked, where progress lagged, and what should change, using eight indicators that span economic, social and environmental outcomes.

The document summarises the AEC’s aim to create a single market and production base for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the scope of the assessment. It describes how the study measures results against the AEC’s objectives and attributes impact, using trends in gross domestic product, trade, foreign direct investment (FDI), productivity, employment, wages, renewable energy and carbon intensity.

The findings show a strong economic contribution alongside gaps in inclusion and sustainability. The AEC’s efforts are estimated to have contributed to higher trade and investment and to have supported higher output and productivity across the region. Employment rose and average wages improved, notably in sectors that attracted investment and technology.

At the same time, progress for marginalised groups, including women, rural communities, indigenous peoples and persons with disabilities, was uneven, and environmental performance lagged, with renewable energy adoption rising more slowly than in peer regions and carbon intensity increasing over the period.

The report then distils implementation lessons from the last ten years. Early and expert engagement with industry made initiatives more practical, but outreach did not always reach smaller firms and local actors. The pragmatic, multi‑speed approach enabled ready member states to move first, yet subsequent waves sometimes stalled because of weaker planning and monitoring. Cross‑sector collaboration was too limited for today’s cross‑cutting challenges, where issues such as supply chains, digital trade and workforce change span many policy areas.

Recommendations for the next decade follow in 2 parts. First, strategic imperatives focus on results: remove persistent non‑tariff measures and increase the use of existing agreements, modernise trade deals for the digital and green economies, expand partnerships with faster‑growing regions, and unlock services such as information and communications technology and financial services.

They also ask ASEAN to empower micro, small and medium‑sized enterprises (SMMEs) with finance and market access, close the gender wage gap, involve marginalised communities in economic opportunities, and scale the green transition by aligning rules, enabling trade in green goods and mobilising innovative finance. Second, delivery improvements focus on how ASEAN works: standardise and widen stakeholder engagement, build in iterative feedback and use multiplier networks to reach smaller firms; plan resources up front for different readiness levels, coordinate dialogue‑partner support and strengthen monitoring; and create a standing way to mobilise cross‑sector teams quickly when regional issues cut across mandates.

The report concludes that ASEAN can convert a decade of progress into broader, faster and fairer growth if it couples a renewed push on integration with targeted inclusion and sustainability. Doing so would reinforce the region’s position in global value chains, raise living standards more evenly and build resilience to future shocks.