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3rd edition

Positioned at the heart of the Indo-Pacific, the world’s growth reserve par excellence for the next few decades, Southeast Asia makes a major contribution to the region’s dynamism, playing a pivotal role between two oceans and carrying 20 to 30% of the world’s maritime freight traffic.

With growth rates traditionally well above the global average, Southeast Asia is the world’s 2nd most dynamic region, behind India and virtually on a par with China.

This makes the region France’s 2nd largest Asian partner and 6th largest customer. It boasts a young, entrepreneurial population of over 670 million, and an emerging middle class that is particularly connected and adopts new lifestyles in search of Western products.

This makes the region France’s 2nd largest Asian partner and 6th largest customer. It boasts a young, entrepreneurial population of over 670 million, and an emerging middle class that is particularly connected and adopts new lifestyles in search of Western products.

Highly integrated commercially thanks to numerous free-trade agreements, including its own through ASEAN, Southeast Asia is asserting itself as a central element in global value chains, on the lookout for new opportunities arising from Sino-American trade tensions, benefiting from the “China +1” strategy.

In addition to the security issues facing this region, Southeast Asia also faces a number of challenges, starting with the energy transition and sustainable development, in light of the commitments made to decarbonization and the ever-increasing need for energy to support industrialization and FDI. The infrastructure needs to support this development, particularly in urban areas, are also titanic, running into hundreds of billions of dollars a year. All these countries are betting on innovation – of which Singapore plays the role of showcase – to achieve technological leaps and ensure accelerated catch-up for their economies.

These major trends and current challenges in Southeast Asia represent key opportunities for French companies, whose market share in Southeast Asia – at 1.5% (2nd in Europe behind Germany) – still needs to grow. What’s more, the heterogeneity of the region’s countries in terms of size, population, culture, maturity and accessibility is undeniably one of Southeast Asia’s great strengths for companies: there’s certainly a market made for you!

Take part in the Southeast Asia forum to find out about opportunities in your business sectors and meet potential Southeast Asian business partners.