Kuala Lumpur, 6–7 May 2026 — The ASEAN Secretariat and UNCTAD, with support from the Australia for ASEAN Futures Initiative (Aus4ASEAN), held the Consultative Forum on “Foreign Direct Investment and Intangibles Development” on 6–7 May 2026 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Forum was convened under the auspices of the ASEAN Coordinating Committee on Investment (CCI) and brought together over 70 participants, including policymakers, experts, business and industry representatives, and practitioners from all ASEAN Member States.
The Forum opened by H.E. Ms. Tiffany McDonald, Ambassador of Australia to ASEAN; H.E. Satvinder Singh, Deputy Secretary General of ASEAN Economic Community; and Dr. Ummi Nasrah Othman, Chair of CCI. It also featured a wide range of speakers and moderators from various international organisations, ASEAN bodies, and the private sector associations.
The Forum discussed global and regional developments in intangible investment, the role of FDI in driving value chain upgrading, digital transformation, and the strengthening of enabling ecosystems, including human capital, digital infrastructure, and intellectual property frameworks.
Participants highlighted a strong and accelerating shift toward intangible investment, which is growing significantly faster than investment in physical assets and increasingly shaping ASEAN’s competitiveness and productivity. Despite robust FDI inflows into the region, intangible-related investments remain partly undercaptured, with key challenges including skills and talent gaps, uneven institutional and Intellectual Property (IP) frameworks, infrastructure constraints, and limited statistical measurement of intangible assets. At the same time, the participants recognised growing opportunities driven by digitalisation, innovation ecosystems, and knowledge-based activities across ASEAN. The Forum underscored that advancing intangible investment requires a coordinated, ecosystem-wide approach, integrating policies on investment promotion, human capital development, innovation systems, and digital infrastructure. The outcomes of the Forum will inform ASEAN’s ongoing investment development work, including contributing to the development of ASEAN Investment Report 2026.
