Marcos Says ASEAN Digital Pact Will Set an AI Roadmap at the November Summit
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said a landmark regional digital economy agreement, to be signed at the 49th ASEAN Summit in November, will give member countries a roadmap to follow in sectors such as artificial intelligence. Speaking at the Forbes Global CEO Conference in Singapore on Thursday, he said discussions about industries like AI could not be limited to “just one region or just one sector,” CNA reported.
The ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement, or DEFA, was first announced in 2023, and negotiations concluded in May under the Philippines’ chairmanship of the bloc this year. It sets common rules for digital trade, supports trusted cross-border data flows, strengthens digital payments and electronic transactions and adds online consumer protection. In a dialogue with Forbes Media chairman Steve Forbes, Marcos described it as an effort to assemble “a roadmap, a guide as to what we would like to achieve,” showing how each country plays its part and how the region fits with the rest of the world.
Marcos said that when Manila took over the chairmanship he noticed ASEAN “was not talking about AI enough.” He borrowed the idea of the ASEAN Power Grid, which links members’ electricity networks, and floated a similar concept for AI. The agreement is to be formalised at the summit.
What it means in practice
At the same event, Marcos said the Philippines is “terribly excited” about Pax Silica, the US-led effort on AI and supply-chain security, The Philippine Star reported. The country joined the 24-member coalition last April. He said the Philippines was already working to move up the semiconductor value chain, beyond producing chips into research, development and design, and saw Pax Silica as a grand opportunity to occupy more of that chain. The Star noted that debate over the initiative continues, with a proposed Pax Silica AI industrial hub in New Clark City, Tarlac, after earlier talks to widen the hub beyond New Clark.
The regional push sits alongside domestic plans such as the DICT’s $34.4 billion AI infrastructure masterplan to 2033, and alongside questions over where the country stands, raised when a former DICT official challenged a claim about its ASEAN AI ranking.
What to watch: the final text of DEFA and whether it carries AI-specific commitments, which Pax Silica projects reach the Philippines, and whether the AI version of the power-grid idea becomes a formal ASEAN programme.