Rödl & Partner: ASEAN Newsflash Q2/2023

Latest news on law, tax and business in ASEAN

Dear reader

Welcome to the Q2/2023 edition of our ASEAN Newsflash.
In this quarter, we have seen an interesting political development in Thailand, as opposition parties won the national elections, which appears as clear rejection of the military-backed government that has been ruling the country since 2014.

Pita Limjaroenrat of the Move Forward Party is poised, upon forming a new coalition involving i.a. the Pheu Thai Party led by Paetongtarn Shinawatra, the daughter of 2006 ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, to become the next Prime Minister of Thailand. This is still subject to the decision of the military dominated senate in July, but a smooth political transition could further improve the business climate, and perpetuate Thailand's good standing as reliable investment destination in Southeast Asia.

Looking at the region, the 42nd ASEAN Summit took place in Labuan Bajo from 9-11 May, hosted by Indonesia. The members reiterated, among others, ASEAN’s resilience as a key priority in a highly-evolving regional and global security environment, and underscored the necessity for ASEAN to be forwardlooking, to anticipate and address emerging challenges.

A few days later, the G7 Leaders, who met in Japan for the annual Summit from 19-21 May 2023, an-noun ced in their Communiqué to coordinate their approach to economic resilience and economic secur ity that is based on diversifying and deepening partnerships and on de-risking, not de-coupling. In this light, we will conduct a German language forum and panel discussion on the diversification of supply chains and foreign investment in Cologne on 27 June. The aim of our event is to shed light on the background of these currently visible trends towards relocation of foreign direct investment and supply chains, and to outline a comparison of different practical and regulatory aspects for market entry as well as relocation incentives in selected ASEAN countries. An invitation will be sent out soon, and we are gladly looking forward to a personal exchange of thoughts.

Sincerely yours,

Markus Schlueter
ASEAN Desk
markus.schlueter@roedl.com

Please find the full ASEAN Newsflash Q2/2023 here.