Co-Hosted with ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute “Co-Creating the Future: Navigating Geopolitical Risks, Building Partnerships”

On May 7, JBIC co-hosted a seminar titled “Co-Creating the Future: Navigating Geopolitical Risks, Building Partnerships” with the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute (ISEAS), a Singapore government-affiliated think tank.

In the first half of the seminar, Dr. Stephen Olson, Visiting Senior Fellow at ISEAS (United States), spoke on the impact of the situation in Iran on trade and investment conditions in the Asian region, as well as on trends in U.S. tariff policy ahead of the November 2026 midterm elections. This was followed by a presentation from KAWAKAMI Nao, Senior Executive Managing Officer and Director General of JBIC’s Strategic Research Department (at that time), who discussed the growing influence of the U.S. and China on ASEAN and heightened energy security risks, while introducing the Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) initiative promoted by the Japanese government and the newly established POWERR Asia FAST Window^*1. He explained the growing importance of strengthening cooperation between Japan and ASEAN in this context.

In the second half, a panel discussion was held featuring Dr. Siwage Dharma Negara, Principal Fellow at ISEAS (Indonesia); Dr. Archanun Kohpaiboon, Visiting Senior Fellow at ISEAS and Professor at the Faculty of Economics, Thammasat University (Thailand); and ITO Masahiro, Deputy Director General of JBIC’s Strategic Research Department. In the discussion, Deputy Director General ITO presented the results of the FY2025 Global Landscape of Overseas Business Expansion (GLOBE) survey, noting that ASEAN is becoming increasingly important to Japanese companies as a means of diversifying geopolitical risk, and that as the region’s economies mature, it is becoming an attractive market not only for manufacturing but also for non-manufacturing businesses. Other panelists discussed medium- to long-term economic trends and investment promotion policies in Indonesia and Thailand, and the participants exchanged views on future co-creation strategies between Japan and ASEAN.

Approximately 200 participants from Singapore and other countries across Asia attended the seminar, both in person and online. Lively discussions also took place during the networking session held on-site after the seminar.

JBIC will continue to provide a range of information related to the overseas business expansion of Japanese companies.

The GLOBE survey report presented at this seminar is available for download below and may serve as a useful reference for future overseas investment decisions and trend monitoring.

• Survey Report on Overseas Business Operations (GLOBE)

Note

1. *1 
   See the May 15, 2026 announcement (“Establishment and Launch of the ‘'Partnership on Wide Energy and Resources Resilience Asia: Finance for Agile and Secure Trade’' Window (the ‘'POWERR Asia FAST Window’')” under the Japan Strategic Investment Facility.)