Guidance

Growth Gateway: Resilient together, ASEAN’s path forward for sustainable and competitive global value chains (summary)

Published 28 May 2026

This document was prepared by the Growth Gateway programme team in collaboration with the Boston Consulting Group. It sets out the case for action by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to make its global value chains more resilient, sustainable, and competitive as trade patterns shift and climate and technological pressures rise. It positions the UK–ASEAN partnership as a practical route to support delivery.

The report is designed to inform ASEAN’s next strategy period, including the Focal Group on Global Value Chains’ 2026 to 2030 sectoral plan. It explains how stronger value chain resilience can support growth, inclusion and stability, and why now is the right moment to raise ambition and focus.

It quantifies the potential benefits of improved resilience, as well as the losses that better risk management could help avoid. It highlights where benefits are likely to be concentrated and stresses that progress depends on joint action that is faster, more targeted and easier to scale.

The analysis describes nine critical value chains for the region, including semiconductors, agribusiness, automotive, healthcare, metals and mining, chemicals and energy, utilities, logistics and financial services. It sets out 6 global trends that are reshaping these chains:

• a more multipolar world
• changes in trade flows
• rapid technological shifts
• faster climate impacts
• demographic change
• unexpected shock events

For each value chain, the report distils headline risks and practical imperatives, such as diversifying suppliers, building upstream capability, greening production and improving circularity, while keeping the narrative accessible to non‑specialists.

Six cross-cutting themes show where joint effort could have the greatest impact:

• structured dialogue on critical issues
• better use of current regional initiatives
• broader supplier bases that build on ASEAN complementarity
• faster technology adoption
• a managed green transition
• collaboration to develop priority industries

These point to three common needs: a standing forum to align on and resolve issues, stronger capabilities within public institutions, and co-ordinated delivery to accelerate work already underway.

The recommendations set out a delivery model built around 3 actions:

• first, a ministerial Dialogue, Discussion and Dispute Resolution mechanism would provide a focused place to agree priorities, resolve barriers and mandate time‑bound missions
• second, Accelerator Squads would bring together officials with direct authority from a subset of ASEAN Member States to solve defined problems within 6 to 12 months, supported by coaches and an escalation route back to ministers
• third, existing national and regional initiatives would be used as the starting point, avoiding duplication and speeding uptake

Implementation guidance follows a simple approach. Think big by agreeing the regional ambition and a short list of missions that matter most. Start small by launching the first ministerial dialogue and a first wave of squads on issues with high feasibility and visible benefit. Scale fast by converting successful pilots into multi‑country practice and adding new missions in later waves.