The recent Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit approved plans for greater digital and economic integration, but comprehensive implementation will prove challenging across the bloc's divergent economies, and continued inaction on key geopolitical issues risks undermining ASEAN's larger goal of centralizing regional issues within itself. From Oct. 6-11, the annual ASEAN summit convened in Vientiane, Laos. Little progress was made on the grouping's highest profile and most contentious issues, namely the disputed South China Sea and the ongoing war in Myanmar. However, the summit yielded several key agreements facilitating ASEAN economic integration in digitalization, green finance, dispute resolution processes and policy harmonization, with progress on several more, including the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement, updates to ASEAN Plan of Action for Energy Cooperation, and an upgraded ASEAN Comprehensive Investment Agreement....
