Marcos says ASEAN plans to formalize digital economy pact in November

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said in Singapore on Thursday, October 8, that ASEAN plans to formalize its Digital Economy Framework Agreement at the bloc’s 49th summit in November. The proposed pact is meant to give Southeast Asian countries a shared approach to digital trade and artificial intelligence, but its final terms and economic effects have yet to be established.

Marcos spoke during a dialogue with Forbes Media chairman and editor-in-chief Steve Forbes at the Forbes Global CEO Conference. The Philippines chairs the Association of Southeast Asian Nations this year. Marcos described the agreement, known as DEFA, as a roadmap for what members want to achieve, the part each country will play and how the region’s approach fits with the wider world.

According to CNA, negotiations concluded in May. That puts Marcos’s remarks on a timetable for formalizing the agreement, rather than announcing that it has already been signed or taken effect. The available reporting does not establish the final obligations that governments will accept in November.

What ASEAN’s digital agreement is intended to cover

CNA reported that DEFA was first announced in 2023. It is intended to set common rules and frameworks for digital trade, trusted data flows across borders, digital payments and electronic transactions, and online consumer protection. Those subjects affect how businesses and customers transact across ASEAN markets, although the precise requirements will depend on the final agreement.

An OECD review of ASEAN digital trade identifies nine priority elements for the framework: electronic trade documents; e-commerce; digital payments and invoicing; interoperable digital identity; data flows and privacy; cybersecurity; AI cooperation; digital skills; and competition. The review describes the broader aim as making national digital rules work together more easily and reducing barriers to cross-border digital services.

What the OECD’s trade estimates do and do not show

The OECD review gives a measure of the possible stakes, but its estimates are conditional. Because the negotiated text was unavailable for its analysis, the organization modeled three hypothetical versions of DEFA and assumed their commitments would be implemented. It estimated increases in trade within ASEAN of 13% under a shallow agreement, 16% under a deep one and 20% under an extensive one.

Those percentages are not measured gains from DEFA, and they are not a forecast based on the final negotiated text. The OECD says its calculations cover only part of the economic picture and may represent upper bounds. It also cautions that benefits could be delayed if members do not implement the commitments they make.

The review provides context for why a common framework matters. ASEAN countries had already pursued a variety of bilateral and regional digital-trade commitments. In the trade-agreement database version cited by the OECD, 44% of ASEAN regional trade agreements included a digital-trade chapter, against a global average of 27%. A regional pact would sit alongside that existing patchwork; the sources do not yet show exactly how its final rules will interact with every earlier commitment.

The OECD says the ASEAN Economic Community Council announced a substantial conclusion of negotiations in October 2025. The review also notes that the agreement’s outcome had not been made public by its December 2025 research cutoff. CNA’s account of a later May 2026 conclusion of negotiations and Marcos’s October timetable describe subsequent steps, while leaving the final text unavailable in the material cited here.

What remains open before the November summit

The immediate next step Marcos identified is formalization at ASEAN’s November summit. Whether the eventual agreement creates binding rules, when any rules would apply and how individual members would put them into practice cannot be determined from these accounts. No response from another ASEAN government, a business group or a civil society organization is included in the available reporting, so their positions should not be inferred.

At the same Singapore dialogue, Marcos addressed a separate ASEAN negotiation with China over a South China Sea code of conduct. He said the parties were making ‘good progress’ but supplied no further detail, according to CNA. He emphasized freedom of navigation and voiced concern that a mistake by personnel in disputed waters could escalate. His description did not establish a new agreement or a breakthrough on that issue.