Asian tigers against poverty

Given the surprises of the change of era, global geopolitical experts have described the beginning of the third decade of the third millennium with the acronym VUCA, the English initials of Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity.

In Asia, economic, political and social transformations are described with two other acronyms: BANI, which means Fragile, Anxiogenic, Non-linear, Incomprehensible, and RUPT, which means Rapid, Unpredictable, Paradoxical and Tangled.

Faced with such complex challenges in the pursuit of inclusive prosperity, the leadership and joint efforts proposed and implemented by Asian international organizations have grown significantly.

The result is exemplary for the whole world: the percentage of the population in extreme poverty, who have less than 1.9 dollars a day, has gone from 68% in 1980 to 6% in 2021. There are five main protagonists.

Asian International Investment Bank (AIIB). It builds green infrastructures with sustainability, innovation and connectivity at its core. AIIB has 105 member countries from around the world, over one hundred billion dollars of capitalization and over $10 billion of investments in 54 Asian countries.

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). Founded in 1989 with headquarters in Singapore, it aims to remove barriers to trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region.

It is made up of 21 member economies. Since the members are called "economies" and not "nations", Hong Kong and Taiwan are equal members with each other.

Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Founded in 1967 by five nations: Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. In the 1980s and 1990s, five more nations joined ASEAN: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma) and Vietnam. ASEAN's goals are to accelerate regional economic growth, facilitate social and cultural development, and pursue peace, stability and the rule of law in the region.

New Silk Road (BRI). China's flagship international program is the Belt and Road Initiative. As of March 2022, 215 development plans were in place with 149 countries and 32 international organizations. BRI, founded in September 2013, is President Xi Jinping's major political-economic project and focuses on communication infrastructure, roads, ports and airports, as well as the energy sector, where BRI accounts for three quarters of the world's energy reserves.

Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Transpacific Partnership (CPTPP). After the bad end of a previous treaty rejected by Trump's US government, the remaining eleven nations have negotiated a new trade deal. The CPTPP is one of the largest free trade agreements in the world, accounting for nearly 13.5% of global gross domestic product (GDP).

Sandro Calvani

NP Agosto-Settembre 2022