Weathering Typhoon COVID: The Economic Consequences of COVID-19 for ASEAN - Dr Sandra Seno-Alday

The nature and extent of risk exposure determines the severity of the effects of a crisis. From the perspective of international trade, this session examines the pre-COVID-19 risk exposure of the ASEAN region, investigates its post-COVID-19 economic effects, and explores possible pathways for Southeast Asia to emerge from the ongoing crisis. As in the case of other regional integration initiatives, the establishment of ASEAN in 1967 encouraged the formation of economic relationships among countries the region. But because the ASEAN framework is unlike any other in the world, the emergent relationship structures in Southeast Asia are different compared to those in other regions. The characteristics of ASEAN integration have also shaped the ways in which individual Southeast Asian countries have forged economic relationships with other countries outside the region. These intra-regional and global relationships forged over time have created a very distinctive ASEAN risk environment. The nature of this risk has played a significant role in defining the unfolding economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the entire Southeast Asian region and on its individual nations. These insights into the nature of ASEAN risk and the ensuing nature of the COVID-19 crisis impact offer a glimpse of the features, opportunities and hurdles of the region’s long road to recovery. As part of SSEAC's annual ASEAN Forum, Dr Sandra Seno-Alday (University of Sydney) sat down with SSEAC's Deputy Director, Dr Thushara Dibley, to discuss the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on economies around Southeast Asia. About Sandra Seno-Alday: Sandra is a Lecturer in the Sydney Business School at the University of Sydney, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre. Prior to embarking on an academic career, Sandra was a consultant to a wide range of medium- to large-scale companies, specialising in international business development and organisation development. In the area of international business development, her consulting engagements were mainly aimed at informing clients’ strategic business expansion efforts in Southeast Asia, and included risk assessments, market attractiveness studies, competitive analyses and business feasibility analyses. In the area of organisation development, Sandra’s consulting engagements focused on helping companies design their organisation structure and processes, and put in place human resource management systems aimed at supporting the delivery of overall corporate strategies. You can follow Sandra on Twitter @SenoAlday. View the transcript: https://bit.ly/2X8xOPI Photo credit: Waranont Joe