Jakarta. ASEAN has recently concluded the negotiations for a regionwide agreement that could lift its digital economy to $2 trillion in the coming years.

According to a statement, the group’s senior officials have spent the last week of May resolving “all the outstanding issues” with this Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA). The Southeast Asian club did not say what sort of loose ends they had to tie up, but the DEFA deals with cross-border e-commerce, electronic payments, digital trade, among others. ASEAN claimed that the DEFA would advance small business participation in the internet economy.

Current growth trends put ASEAN’s internet economy to reach $1 trillion by 2030. 

Studies indicate that the number could “potentially double in value to $2 trillion” by the same year with the DEFA in place.

“This growth would further strengthen ASEAN’s position as one of the world’s leading digital growth hubs, attracting investment, creating jobs, supporting entrepreneurship,” the ASEAN statement reads.

“... and expanding opportunities for businesses and communities across the region,” the ASEAN statement reads.

Members are expected to ink the DEFA this November when leaders gather for another summit in the Philippines. The group launched the negotiations in 2023, during which Jakarta held the rotating chairmanship. ASEAN had only brought Timor-Leste into its fold in 2025. When asked about Timor-Leste’s DEFA participation shortly before its membership, Indonesia’s chief economic minister Airlangga Hartarto had told the press that Dili might need more time “to adjust to its regulations”. 

Add as a preferred source on Google +