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Finance Secretary Frederick Go said ASEAN’s new digital economy pact, signed on Nov 14, targets paper requirements and payment delays that slow cross-border trade
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Alongside it, the ASEAN Semiconductor Roadmap, finalized the same day, is meant to help each member country build its part of the chip supply chain
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To draw investment into that chain, Go said the Luzon Economic Corridor now has 13 partners, including Spain and the European Union, and prioritizes energy, transport, logistics, advanced manufacturing and digital infrastructure
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On the trade side, he said the Philippine National Single Window puts permits on one digital platform and will connect to the ASEAN Single Window
Finance Secretary Frederick Go said ASEAN’s Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA), signed on Nov 14, is meant to remove border paperwork and payment delays that hamper regional trade, as he laid out the Philippines’ approach to artificial intelligence at the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit 2026.
Go spoke at the AI Summit on Nov 15 at Solaire Resort in Parañaque. The Philippines is chairing ASEAN this year, and the pact was one of two deliverables he said bear directly on AI.
A pact to cut border friction
Go described DEFA as the first region-wide ASEAN agreement for the digital economy and the first to address AI. It sets common rules on digital trade, cross-border data flows, digital payments and consumer protection, he said.
The agreement aims to ease two problems, according to Go. More than half of enterprises trading in ASEAN still face paper requirements at the border, and two in three businesses that pay digitally report delays. DEFA is now moving to domestic implementation.
The second deliverable, the ASEAN Semiconductor Roadmap, deals with the physical side of the digital push. Go said the regional framework for chip supply chains was finalized on Nov 14 and will soon go to member states. It lets each country build its part of the value chain, he said, so more of the gains stay in ASEAN.
Electronics at the center of exports
Chips matter to the Philippines because electronics are its largest export, Go said. He noted that exports grew 17% year to date, and that in September they rose 36% to their highest monthly value since records began in 1991, with electronics accounting for 70% of that month’s shipments.
That demand is part of a wider regional trend. Go said ASEAN’s digital economy is about $300 billion today and is projected to approach $1 trillion by 2030, adding that he had been told this. He said Southeast Asia is growing at close to 5%, helped by the global AI investment cycle. On the supply side, he pointed to the country’s nickel, copper, gold and chromite, which feed data centers and batteries.
Luzon Economic Corridor
To turn that demand into investment, Go said the government is counting on the Luzon Economic Corridor, which began with the Philippines, the United States and Japan and now has 13 partners, including Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, Korea, Sweden, the UK, Spain and the European Union. Its priority sectors are energy, transport, logistics, advanced manufacturing and digital infrastructure. He said the opportunity lies in integrating advanced manufacturing and building resilient supply chains.
What government must deliver
Attracting that investment, Go said, asks three things of government. The first is reliable, clean power, for which the Philippines is pushing the Enhanced ASEAN Power Grid. The second is predictable rules on data flows, cross-border services and taxation, which he said DEFA is meant to provide. The third is fiscal discipline, including a declining deficit path and the investment-grade ratings the country has kept.
On the domestic side, he said the government has a whole-of-government approach to AI. The Department of Information and Communications Technology’s AI+ Infrastructure Masterplan calls for $34.4 billion in public and private investment in AI-ready infrastructure by 2033, and the 2026 Strategic Investment Priority Plan places digital infrastructure, including AI, in the highest incentive tier.
Digital trade and finance steps
Go also cited steps already taken. The Philippine National Single Window brings trade permits onto one digital platform and will connect to the ASEAN Single Window, he said. Every major Philippine bank waived online transfer fees this year, real estate investment trusts have been opened to data centers, and the country’s peso government bonds will join J.P. Morgan’s emerging-market bond index in January. On the regional level, he said ASEAN is pursuing payments connectivity so money can move across the region as easily as data.
Go said the payoff from AI for the Philippines would be measured in more productive jobs for 1.9 million IT-BPM workers and stronger businesses among 1.2 million micro, small and medium enterprises. He cautioned that the same technology can be misused for cyberattacks and fraud, and said the government wants guardrails for safe use.
The Philippines began live operations on the ASEAN Single Window on Dec 30, 2019, initially exchanging electronic Form D certificates of origin with Indonesia and Malaysia, PortCalls reported in January 2020. The link lets border documents move electronically among member states.
