Member statements. The Member for Kingston and the Islands. Thank you Mr. Speaker. Yesterday morning the Financial Accountability Office released their report on the government's cancellation of the cap and trade program along with most of the climate change action plan and the numbers are staggering. The FAO announced that these cancellations will result in a hit of $3 billion to the province's bottom line, increasing the annual deficit by nearly $800 million by 2021-22. The government's compensation strategy of $5 million excludes 99% of allowances purchased by businesses. If these companies are not compensated, these costs will be passed on to the consumer and that is not money in the pockets of Ontarians. How much more will be spent on lawsuits? Will Ontario lose the $420 million in federal funding at risk because we do not have a climate change plan? The government intends on spending about $500 million per year on CCAP programs, but this government is picking and choosing which programs will be cut and which are going to be kept. We know the green on program was cancelled, but which ones are being kept at the expense of the taxpayers in Ontario? How did the government choose which programs are going to be kept and what writings do they affect? Mr. Speaker, I smell another billion-dollar boondoggle on its way. Thank you very much. Members' statements. The member for Mrs. Agamal. Good afternoon, Speaker. Last week I was fortunate to have the opportunity to attend 40th Canadian regional seminar in Accolet, Nunavut. The seminar was attended by both federal and provincial representatives, 36 in Corom. There were six panel topics covered with many notable moments. On the panel discussion on the Corom in the chamber, the clerk from Quebec discussed the Quebec Legislature move to ban clapping in the house during question period, a move there for them to reduce antiques and to be more productive. Our own Deputy Speaker, Rick Nicholson, also presented very well on the topic. On mental health matters, the discussion was heavily participated by all the members. It was interesting to note that there was a consensus among all members for the need to invest in mental health. Mr. Speaker, I'm proud that our Ontario government has already committed to investing $3.8 billion in mental health. I also had the opportunity to represent Ontario in a panel discussion on reflecting and respecting the Indigenous presence in Parliament. I reported that while work has been done in the last decade to increase Indigenous participation and representation, there are still four provinces with zero political representation from the Indigenous community. I believe there's still a lot of work needs to be done. Lastly, I'd like to give a shout out to both the clerk offices here at Queen's Park and Nunavut for the execution of a flawless event and encourage other members to attend. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you very much. The member for University Rosedale. Thank you, Speaker. Zoe Keary Matzer spoke today at a rally led by Youth concerned about the cancellation of Ontario's climate plan. Zoe is a youth in my writing of University Rosedale. At the rally, she said, no children were consulted on the cancellation of the plan and yet our future is severely endangered. Our voices are especially important because it is our future that is threatened. Zoe is 11. In 2040, Zoe will be 33. 2040 is the year the UN predicts global climate catastrophe if we don't take urgent action now. We're at a crossroads. We could have a hopeful world where our youth and children can live their best lives or a grim world with food and water shortages, killer heat waves, coastal cities underwater and global sacrifice zones too hot to live in. We get to decide our future, us, legislatures, adults living today. The Conservative government is choosing the grim option by cancelling our cap and trade plan and wasting $3 billion of Ontario's money justicated to big polluters. Conservatives choose the hopeful option, the option that gives kids like Zoe a good future, a good life. Listen to the evidence and say yes to a climate plan that limits warming to 1.5 degrees or below. Thank you. Thank you very much. Member Statements, the Member for Brampton South. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Today I would like to take an opportunity to mark a very special day. The start of the 2018-2019 Toronto Raptors season. Many of us may be divided on what NHL or CFL team we cheer for. But in Canada we are all united behind our only NBA team, the Toronto Raptors. Tonight they kick off their season against the Cleveland Cavaliers and fans across this country are going to tune in to watch them take on the Cavaliers and start their road to the NBA championship. This year is especially exciting after a blockbuster trade saw the Toronto Raptors land one of the best offensive and defensive players in the league, Kauai Leonard. With the addition of Kauai and a talented roster of young players and Kyle Lowry and Jonas Valachunas this team is being noticed across the league. Mr. Speaker, LeBron James is shaking in his boots at the thought of playing the Toronto Raptors this year. I urge all members across all party lines in this house to show their support to Canada's team and cheer on the Toronto Raptors this year as we make history. Go Raps, go. Thank you. Thank you, Member for Timmons. Well Mr. Speaker, yet again I heard the Premier this week and then I heard the Minister of Finance saying oh, they lowered the price of gas in Ontario. Here they go again. They haven't even taken the four and a half cents off that they promised as a result of the cancellation in cap and trade. We're still paying that tax that they promised they were going to take off but they're running around the province and they're trying to say hey everybody look at the price of gas is down. There's something called winter blend. Every year gas companies in the fall and in the spring change of blend price the change of blend formative of gas and affect the price. Price of gas always goes down in the fall and market conditions push the price up and push a price down accordingly to the whims of whatever's going on in the market. I think that the government's got to come clean. It's got to say that in fact at this point they have done absolutely nothing to affect the price of gas. New Democrats have put forward a bill that's now in committee that would allow us to regulate the price of gas if the government intends to hold its promise by reducing four and a half cents of gas tax on the price of gas. Well then they're going to have to do something such as pass the NDP bill that provides for regulation because I'll tell you what'll happen. If they take the four and a half cents off and there's no protection for the consumer by way of regulation or other mechanism the gas companies are going to take over the room and we're going to be paying right what we used to before and the gas companies going to run away with the profits laughing every day that they go to the bank. So I say to the government across the way you should do the right thing, you should support gas price regulation and stop taking credit for something you haven't done yet. Members of Scarborough Guildwood. I rise in the house today to congratulate Theatre Scarborough from my riding of Scarborough Guildwood on receiving $19,500 from the Ontario Trillium Fund. The grant has provided Scarborough Village Theatre with a new hearing loop system making it the first and only community theatre of its kind in Toronto. This investment will enhance the audience's experience by ensuring that they can hear more clearly during performances particularly people with hearing loss. Theatre Scarborough has three producing companies that will benefit from the new hearing loop system. Scarborough Players, Scarborough Theatre Guild and the Scarborough Music Theatre. I had the opportunity to experience the new system of the Scarborough Players 60th anniversary opening night performance of Noises Off. The production was hilarious, entertaining and well produced. I'd like to say thank you to Catherine Turner and the Scarborough Players president, Chris Wakeline for the invitation. I had the opportunity to speak with the producers of Noises Off, Elaine O'Neill and her lovely daughter, Grace. Congratulations to the Scarborough Players on their 60th anniversary and thank you for providing a platform for local talent in Scarborough for the last 60 years. Your commitment and your contributions to the arts in my writing is exceptional. It's making our community more livable and more accessible for families to grow old. Thank you, Speaker. I invite everyone to the performance with runs until October 20th. Thank you very much. Member Statements. Member for Cambridge. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday, October 15 was Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day. This campaign started in America in 2002 with Canada joining in 2004. In Ontario, Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day was officially declared on December 8th, 2015 as one of the many elements of Bill 141 Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Research and Care Act. The day is observed with remembrance ceremonies, candlelighting bells, and concludes with the international wave of light. This day is a day of remembrance for all of those who have suffered the loss of a child, whether it is through miscarriage, stillbirth, or SIDS. We acknowledge both the grieving parents as well as the loss of life. While miscarriages are common occurring in 15 to 20 percent or one in five pregnancies, these statistics do not provide comfort to grieving parents. Stillbirth, though less common with six stillborn infants in 1,000 total births are equally devastating. The Pregnancy and Infant Loss Network or PAIL Network is an organization that families can turn to for support in dealing with pregnancy and infant loss. The number is 1-888-303-7245. I know that this kind of grief is one that you will carry with you forever. I have suffered from from miscarriages, so I understand all too well. To all of those who have had to bear this cross, please know that you are not alone. Thank you. Member statements? The Member for London West. Thank you, Speaker. Over the last week in London, two reports were released that have the potential to completely transform my community. London Community Foundation's vital signs and the Middlesex London Community Drug and Alcohol Strategy. The two reports provide a powerful call to action and share a vision of a caring, connected and inclusive future where all citizens feel they belong. The call to action comes from statistics that are stark and troubling. More than 70,000 Londoners are living in poverty, including one in four children. Only three in five working-age Londoners are working or looking for work. One of the lowest participation rates in the province. Almost half of all London tenants are spending more than 30% of their monthly income on rent. Almost 6,000 people in London and Middlesex use injection drugs with the harms of substance use disproportionately experienced by indigenous peoples, LGBTQ and people living with mental illness. The shared vision recognizes the importance of addressing social determinants of health and strengthening individual sense of belonging and connection. As vital signs point out, belonging is the new that holds our community together. Speaker Londoners are committed to achieving this shared vision, but we can't do it alone. Today I call on the government to join with my community as a full partner. Provide us with the resources and policy changes necessary to end poverty, tackle inequities and help London to thrive. Thank you Speaker. Thank you Member Statements. The Member for Simcoe North. Thank you Mr. Speaker. A day for seniors began in Simcoe in September 2001. In 17 years later, I am proud to say that this special event continues on. On October 5th and 12th, I co-hosted my first annual seniors event with the federal member of parliament, Mr. Bruce Stanton. These events were held in Midland at the North Simcoe Sports and Recreation Center and in Aurelia at Otis Park. We had an incredible turnout with hundreds in attendance. Organizations from across the riding volunteered their time and hosted informational sessions in order to spread awareness on topics such as accessibility, home health care, nutrition and physical activity. Our seniors heard from some wonderful guest speakers such as Carmen Stompo, the CEO at Aurelia Soldiers Memorial Hospital, Dr. Kevin Young, lead geriatrician at the seniors care clinic, Tom Chiel from the Canadian Antifraud Agency, Tim Anderson from Crawford McLean Law Office, Jeremy Bertrand from the Ministry of Finance and Melissa Brabant from the Ministry of Education. I also had the honour to recognize Cliff Favle as the Aurelia senior today. He is a recipient of the United Senior Citizens of Ontario Senior of the Year award and a dedicated member of my community. Seniors are the foundation of our society. They have accumulated a wealth of knowledge and wisdom through their vast experiences and they serve as a beacon for younger generations. I feel privileged to acknowledge their contributions, celebrate and provide information to ensure they receive the support they deserve to lead happy and healthy lives. Thank you. Thank you very much. Member's statements. Member for Willowdale. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.  It's small business week and the business I decided to visit was that of Dr. John Roe, my dentist.  This weekend I had the privilege of a bottle drive organized by the beer store in my riding of Willowdale and the organizers gave me the privilege of allowing to pick the recipients of the proceeds and I chose EVA Satellite right away. EVA Satellite is a local extension of EVA's initiative an award winning organization that provides shelter, transitional housing and programming to help young people build brighter futures. EVA Satellite in Willowdale is Canada's first harm reduction shelter for youth. They are there to help those struggling with substance abuse and mental health issues and it is truly an inspiring organization. Like EVA Satellite that the fact that it exists in my riding is a true honor. You know, we need to take care of our future generations and as a young man I suffered with depression and anxiety and is only thanks to the support of my friends and family that I was able to get through difficult times and we need to make sure that our youth that are at risk today have that same support mechanism so that we can make sure that they are able to have a bright future maybe sit in this house one day not just to change their communities but indeed to change our entire world. So please get out there and support your local shelter or similar EVA Satellite organizations in your community as well. Thank you so much. Good afternoon.


they didn't let me on the plane because they thought I had a bowler. I nearly got stuck in China while my entire family was already on the plane and it just made me panic more. In the extreme emotion we find it difficult to gather our thoughts. It's true. I think the only thing that I find hard is like the waking up and like making places on time. Yeah because I'm not always the best with those transitions and the executive functioning aspect of it. If I'm with somebody like and then the only thing that I need to do is kind of get up and carry my bags, I'm usually pretty good. I don't think I've actually like gone abroad and travelled like just on my own. Apart from one time I came back from Thailand. That was the only time actually. That was okay. That wasn't too bad. But I think it helped because I was on the plane for a long time. So I knew that I'd kind of have some space to kind of chill and regulate and do my own thing once I actually got on the plane. So it wasn't too bad.


Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. And welcome to this very interesting session. My name is Shorab Khagda, and I have the privilege to be a moderator of such a distinguished panel today. This session is in partnership with Baraita Satu, which is Indonesia's fastest growing media company. We have a very distinguished panel of speakers today. And just before we came in, we were all debating on the meaning and the origins of the word conundrum. And we agreed that countering the connectivity conundrum was, in fact, a huge puzzle that we can try and put together in a joint effort. So let me introduce my distinguished panel. To my immediate left is Mr. Sun Chantol, who is the Minister of Public Works and Transport for the Kingdom of Cambodia. To his left is Kunakom, the Minister for Transport in Thailand. Mr. Jin Lee Kin, President of the AIIB. Our lady on the panel, Ms. Anna Mars from the Standard Chartered Bank. And of course, Kun Tevin, who is President of our PTT Thailand. So let us get into the discussion straight away. We will leave the last 10 minutes from Q&A from the audience. So I hope that you will start preparing some questions for our distinguished panelists. So if I may get the ball rolling, Minister. From your perspective, Cambodia has enjoyed strong economic growth, 7% and above for the last two decades. You've seen great development. How do you approach this issue of connectivity? Do you see connectivity for Cambodia as a critical element of development and growth? Thank you very much. In Cambodia, they're saying that you have a road, you have a home. All the Chinese would say, you want to get rich? Be a road first. And so that's what the policy of our prime minister is that we need, first of all, need to integrate the whole country together. So we went out there and started building all the road connecting the capital city of Phnom Penh with the provincial capital. And then link between provincial capital to provincial capital. That first, that's important for us to integrate the whole country after the 30 years of internal conflicts. After that, we need to look at how can we attract FDI? How can we export our product? How can we attract tourism to come to Cambodia? So that's why we need to invest more in the linkages of the road between Cambodia and Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. So we invest heavily the last 10 years with this $5 billion in infrastructure. It is a road, bridges, expand our deep sea port and also improve the airport in Cambodia. So infrastructure is extremely, extremely important for Cambodia. So we continue to invest heavily in the infrastructure. Now, how, where do we get funding? That's the issues. The issue of funding today, mainly we receive funding from bilateral partners. We get some concession loan from Thailand, from Korea, from Vietnam, from China, from Japan, from the World Bank, from ADB. But that will not be sufficient in order for us to continue to expand the building of infrastructure because there are obviously the debt to GDP ratio that we do to comply. So we have to look into the private sector later on in order for them to build a major infrastructure. So we opened up the beauty of the road between Phnom Penh to Seattleville to be a four-lane expressway. Phnom Penh to the board of Vietnam. Also, we opened up the private sector to invest in that expressway. We also engage with JICA to enlarge route number five, linking Cambodia to Thailand from two lane to four lane. Because that's part of ASEAN highway number one. So Cambodia sits right in the middle of Thailand, of Vietnam. So we like to be able to have a good infrastructure, good logistic center, so that Cambodia can be used as a platform to attract FDI, to create a factory here, and then export the product to the greater making separation, or to the ASEAN with a consumer over over 600 million consumers. So we continue to invest heavily in infrastructure. But again, we need also private sector participation to build additional infrastructure in Cambodia. So the government of Cambodia is very open to private sector participation. I think that's good to hear. If I may just move to President Jin. The AIB of course is a major player in funding infrastructure development across the world and especially in ASEAN. When you look at an infrastructure project that you would be participating in with anyone country, is there a broader strategy in terms of looking at a project and how it would improve connectivity within the region? Thank you very much for the question. Yes, we do. We do have an overall program for the infrastructure investment in ASEAN countries, in Asia, and as you know, since we have borrowing countries from across the world, we would have to look beyond Asia, but that's the next step. Infrastructure investment could be very productive, but if it's not well coordinated, it could be disconnected and a waste of resources. And some infrastructure projects could be a wide elephant. So we are very much careful about this. We are early in the stage and we're just mapping out our development program for ASEAN and for other regions. We have a vice president in charge of policy and strategy. This office looks after the country balance, regional balance, sector balance. Now, let's talk about ASEAN countries. And when I was the vice president of ADB, I looked after the operations for ASEAN countries and make on subregion. We understand how important it is for all of those economies to be connected. You build a road, you build a railway or power transmission airlines. For us, the priority is not just the importance of the project for the countries itself, but whether there will be positive spillover impact on the neighboring countries on the region as a whole. But we also try our very best to encourage the private sector to participate in infrastructure investment. The buying in of private sector is crucial. And in this regard, we appeal to all of the governments in ASEAN countries to have better policy coordination and custom harmonization, regulatory harmonization. That will really help make the infrastructure investment go a long way. So when we say the conundrum, the hard question, if we all work together like that, the harder question would be very easy to resolve. Thank you. Thank you very much. I think moving from the macro to maybe a little bit more localized, if I may move to the minister from Thailand. Thailand, of course, is a regional co-production base and an intra-regional and trade hub within the Indochina area. From Thailand's perspective, what kind of projects are, when you think about infrastructure and connectivity, of course it must be good for Thailand, but you also think about that it should be good for Cambodia or it should be good for Myanmar, which are your neighbors or even further field. How do you factor those issues into your planning? Thank you very much, dear. On Thailand, actually, we have been using the infrastructure led growth for more than 50 years. Because 50 years ago, we believed that the only roads and electricity to the rural area can bring the goods from the farmers to the market. So it's quite successful, 50 years ago. And that was the mainly domestic infrastructure. But 25 years ago, later, 25 years later, we started to think about how we connect with the neighboring country. And thanks to the former vice president of ADB that was very helpful in organizing the forum of the Mekong sub-region. So after that, after 25 years, we started to look at the sub-region, how we connected. The only thing that, I think the easiest way is to connect with roads. So roads and bridges. Because the Mekong sub-region connected, there's a Mekong river, okay? So at the time, then, we started to look at how to build a road crossing the country. But it's not only the road, but including the power transmission. This is so-called the cross-border infrastructure. And also telecommunication as well. And then, at the time, the road is very important. And it's this way. And thanks to the International Financing Organization. And five years later, no, five years ago, we started to think about the road is efficient because it's door-to-door, deliberately. But it's gonna be more efficient if we can move from road to rail. And then five years ago or 10 years ago, then we started to think about how we connect with rail. And we started to work with our neighboring country and as well as with China as well, to connect. Because the China is a big market and also has to send the goods to Thailand as well. So that's the way that we are working on it, okay? And when we're talking about, you mentioned about Konandrum. I think there are two aspects. One is the hardware and secondly, on the software. I think the, if you're talking about the puzzle, what's the problem of the infrastructure? I think there's no problem at all at this moment, physically. But we have to think about the cross-border rules and regulations that's more important, how to make your infrastructure more value. And our philosophies in Thailand now change. Infrastructure itself can stimulate the growth in a period of time. But how you can make use of the infrastructure is more important. So whatever infrastructure project roads within Thailand or the cross-border road rails, then if you can develop the lands and develop the commercial area along the infrastructure and then you can get more return on the project. So that's our policy and plan. So let me explain a little bit here. Infrastructure also supports our production base. Thailand now, we look at our Eastern Economic Corridor, which used to be the Eastern Seaboard Economic Development. And it's proved very successful because we have one of the big, deep seaports so that any country in the sub-region can use our deep seaport. But connectivity doesn't mean that they're only domestic. Connectivity within the city is also important. So you can look at Thailand now. Connectivity within the Bangkok. You have to have the more efficient transport infrastructure within the capital city. Secondly, between Bangkok and other cities. So we have so many railway projects as well as the motorway, making the people to move faster and on time and then the cross-country infrastructure. Thank you. If I may move to Anna now.  But let me just move a little bit away from your job as a banker and your position as a young global leader at the World Economic Forum. ASEAN is a young demographic region. We have many young people. And I'm just wondering how do this young generation get involved more in promoting and bolstering growth and in terms of how they can contribute to improving connectivity in the region? So a huge question and moving away from kind of core infrastructure, at least physical infrastructure. I mean, there's no denying that here in ASEAN, for many countries, the demographic dividend of a young population is an enormous catalyst to growth. And you see it.  And that's physical infrastructure in a way in terms of getting people around Jakarta. I think the role that we need to, that we should expect really from the sort of sub-40s generation is digital disruption. It's a key part of the connectivity story that I think we don't talk about that much. In part, it doesn't need a big wall of debt financing. It does need a big wall of equity financing. But in many cases across the region, it's getting it. In my industry, in banking, FinTech had a billion dollars of investment in Asia in 2016. That was more than the US, which is kind of amazing statistic. And there's plenty of governments that have comprehensive programs to enabling those enterprises to scale. I mean, Singapore, where I live, is certainly one with their FinTech focus and their regulatory sandbox as they kind of get these startups to scale. So I think the role that young people play in the digital disruption and digital connectivity and the demand that they have for it will really be transformational. I think the other thing we can't forget as we talk about physical infrastructure is more on the environmental side. All the research on millennials or really any of the sub-30 generation, they just won't stand for the kind of environmental disruption that projects maybe 50 years ago brought with it. And so they'll help us push the envelope on that in a way that I think is really constructive for long-term healthy growth. Thank you. If I may move on to Kumtab and just to complete the semicircle, so to speak, you are the head of a private sector business leader. What do you expect from infrastructure projects? And do you feel that the private sector input is taken on board by the governments in terms of when they start planning massive infrastructure projects? Thank you. Quite challenging, especially when my minister is on the panelist as well. But I'll give it a go. I think on the infrastructure, if I can maybe speak from my experience about the energy industry, the energy industry faced few challenges in addition to the oil price being maybe one-third or half of what it was before when we started to invest in a lot of infrastructures. But another challenge is to continue to invest in those infrastructure to fuel the continue to ongoing economic growth. And for the intra-regional infrastructure, we're talking about maybe power plants that can supply electricity from one nation to another neighboring countries. We're talking about the pipeline infrastructure that can link the molecules of natural gas as well. We're talking about the LNG receiving terminals which would allow this region to actually import LNG from outside to provide to the gas fire power plants. We also talk about coal mining, talk about the retail gas stations, and other things as well, refineries, petrochemical to supply to the region. And the word connectivity is actually applied to energy industry quite some time back when we talk about exchange product, trading or cross-border transaction. So those kind of investment require a lot of funding and require a lot of support by the government. I do have some wish list. As a support from the government, I think all those infrastructure require long-term commitment from the private sector, large amount of investment. And so the certainty in terms of policy and regulatory framework is one thing that is critical to assure the investors of what to be expected. I think the cross-border transaction is becoming more and more. So if the government of the different countries would work together with the private sector in order to allow a more fluid process in facilitating the cross-border transaction, that would help a lot in terms of supporting the investment decision. I think the liberalization of foreign investment is another thing. Obviously, the experience, the lesson learned from one company in another country can benefit the investment in the other country. So liberalization of allowing the foreign investment into certain infrastructure would help. And I think, lastly, is the investment protection for the foreign investor. That would be one area, whether it's the tax system, the promotion, things that would have to be clear from upfront. I think those kind of continuity and certainty would help provide the investor from the private sector to be more confident. On the financing side, I think so far we've seen a lot of good work among the banks and the investors. For example, a project of building the hydropower in Laos, providing electricity to Thailand. The banks would consider the supply chain of this investment. So taking into consideration the rating, the credit of the market, as well as the original country into providing the funding. So I think that has been ongoing very well. And we would see a lot of this project more and more because connectivity and energy is very crucial for economic development. So I think if we can just kind of summarize the start of our discussion, connectivity definitely is a key player in regional and even localized growth. And you need both government, private sector, and especially multilateral agencies to play a role. Can I just read to you a little bit about the ASEAN connectivity 2025 vision statement that was, I think, signed by the ASEAN member country some time ago. To achieve a seamlessly and comprehensively connected and integrated ASEAN that will promote competitiveness and a greater sense of community. Now that's the vision for connecting ASEAN. I don't think we are there. 2025 is not such a long way away, too. I'll just pose this general question to the panel and jump in as and when. Maybe I'll start with Minister Sun. Cambodia probably would be a fast-rising economy within ASEAN but basically coming from a much lower level if I may say so. In achieving this vision that was painted by ASEAN some time ago, from your perspective, how does ASEAN move forward on this connectivity issue? One thing I would like to throw to the panel and of course maybe later on to the audience, each ASEAN country competes with itself while also at the same time it has to complement each other's economies. So from a Cambodia's perspective, as you see the region and your neighbors, how do you marry these two? Well, I think that you work together, especially with our neighboring country like with Thailand. So we are in the process of reconnecting our railway between Cambodia and Thailand. So when we connect that railway, we be able to, ASEAN, be able to transport good and people from Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia. So the next piece of the missing link is between Cambodia and Vietnam. When we complete that, then good and services can go all the way to China. So that we work with our neighboring country to do that. And one of the flagship projects in the master plan of ASEAN connectivity called for the construction of Singapore Kunming railway project. So we still proceed to look for funding to build the missing link in Cambodia, the second part. So that we work with our neighboring country on that. The same with Vietnam. Two weeks ago, during the visit of Prime Minister Vietnam to Cambodia, I signed the MOU between my ministry and Ministry of Transport of Vietnam to agree on the connecting point of expressway between Cambodia and Vietnam and from the border Vietnam to Ho Chi Minh City. So that's important that we work together. I don't want to build expressway between Cambodia and two Vietnamese border and there's no connection between the border to Ho Chi Minh City. So while we're working together. Same thing, we work with our neighbors on the north, Laos. We also build the road there to allow the Laotian to ship the goods using that road all the way to our deep seaport. So that we work together in that sense. But I agree with my colleague here, I'll call him that, not only the physical infrastructure, the institutional connectivity is extremely important. You have a great highway, great road connecting each other, but it's a problem at the border to clear the goods. Custom check income on one side, on the one side, a custom check also on the Thai side for a long time. So we need to move toward a single window, single inspection and so on and so forth in order to make the flow of goods seamless based on what the division we stated in 2025. But Cambodia government is so committed, so committed to remove all the NTM's and all at the border. We have created a task force, chaired by our Minister of Finance to look into the possibility of revoke all the NTM that go at this kind of problem that interfere with the free flow of goods and services within Asia. I think that's very encouraging to hear. I mean, I'm sure a lot of private business leaders would be happy to hear your comments about kind of easing the rate take. Yeah, if I may move to Anna in terms of, when you look at financing, I'm coming back to a banking hat now. When you come to financing such projects, harmonizing of regulations I think is a critical factor, especially when you have infrastructure projects that cross borders. From your bank's perspective, how do you approach this issue? Well, I think, first of all, we didn't say it on this panel, maybe it's obvious, but the business case for connected infrastructure in ASEAN is very clear, right? Logistics costs here are higher than international benchmarks and if we can get this together and bring those down, it's material for all economies. When it comes to financing, the ideal project would have really steady cash flows, no commodities risk, no currency risk, and a sovereign guarantee, right? But obviously you don't find that in every instance. Despite that, we are seeing in this region what I'd call unprecedented demand for infrastructure investment, not just from banks, but even more and more importantly, I'd say from investors with very long investment horizons, and so the demand is very much there. It's definitely true when you get to a connected project, it's more complicated. It's more complicated in the early phases in terms of how you evaluate it. I think Tevin talked about the moving goalposts, which can emerge in the regulatory framework and when you've got two sets of goalposts that can move over time, it's definitely more complex. Because these products are evaluated based on long-term cash flow, you basically want to provide as much comfort as possible that those goalposts will move very little over the life of the project, and we have to be realistic as economies evolve, things change, but the more that the framework upfront can provide enough stability, I'd say, to investors. And these days versus maybe five or 10 years ago, even for the higher risk ventures, there still is a demand, because as you said, when we were chatting earlier, there's just a lot of money out there. Right. President Jin, would you like to add to that? I have a comment on two issues. One, with regard to 2025, it's less than a decade. Certainly, time would be running out very quickly, but we all understand how much you can do in a decade's time. Look at the ASEAN countries, three or four decades ago, very poor, and by each and every economic indicator, ASEAN countries had a long way to catch up. We talk about four dragons in those days, right? But now, if you look at ASEAN countries, you will see much, much has changed. So 2025 may not be far too away down the road, but I think it's achievable. But I want to highlight the point. I would say 2025 should be the initial success. It's a process, okay? If the ASEAN countries can achieve the objective of 2025, that's only the starting point. And I think we should keep things in mind. It's not perfect, and we still have a long way to go. And eventually, this physical connectivity or policy harmonization would lead to a high level of coordination. How about the financial market integration? And ASEAN countries could better recycle its savings to benefit this region. And I would say monetary and financial integration is very much important for us to understand that each and every ASEAN country would really enjoy the economy of scale. So that's the point of 2025. Secondly, we in AWIB attach great importance to environmental protection, ecological system, and climate change. So you have to look at the infrastructure and connectivity investment over the broader concepts. How can we protect the environment? Because if you do something not so good, the spillover effect could be negative, right? That's why, for instance, these countries are linked by Mekong River. How can improve the Mekong River and make the water clean? So we need to look at the climate change issue, environmental protection. So when I say, when we look at the infrastructure projects, we will not just look at the connectivity or economic benefit, we have to look at the environmental benefit in this regard. So I do believe the ASEAN countries would really work together to achieve cooperation in almost every areas that would ensure this region will really be one of the greatest, fastest growing regions in the world. Cambodian is a relatively young nation, so is Thailand and some other countries. I would say the young labor force would have a huge demand in the future. And this is the problem created by the success of ASEAN countries growth. And how can you provide jobs to young people and how can you make these young people a productive force? This is another big issue ASEAN countries should look at. I think you've hit a very important point, President Jin. We talk about the demographic dividend, but that can become a demographic curse if not enough jobs are found for the young people. With that maybe I can pose a question to Khun Artham in terms of Thailand's own approach to creating jobs for young people and how infrastructure projects help, I mean, building infrastructure definitely creates jobs. But beyond that, you mentioned a little bit earlier about how you also look at the surrounding industries that could come forward with this infrastructure, new infrastructure projects. How do they create new industries, for example? And maybe you could give us some ideas on how Thailand goes about doing this. Well, of course, Thailand is now in the shortage of labor force because of the changing in the population structure. And we do believe that we need the help from our friends from neighboring country. Our policy is to try to facilitate people to move in, to work in Thailand. It's not only in the infrastructure area, but it's in all sectors, in manufacturing, in agriculture, in services sector, all the people from Myanmar, from Cambodia, from Laos, even from Vietnam and also from the southern ASEAN as well. So we need, as I said, cross-border rules and regulation is very important. When you move people in, then you have to register so that you can have the social benefit because Thailand is one of the countries, I think, that we take care, we look after all the migrant workers. To my sense, they are very, very good actually. But once you move the vision of the ASEAN 2025, we have two missions. One is how to move goods more freely. And secondly, how to move people more freely. Moving people, of course, it certainly depends on who in the shortage. But moving goods is more difficult. I think we need to, as the president just mentioned, that we need close collaboration. We need to talk and talk and talk because how to harmonize through and regulation between the country is definitely difficult. So I think we need to talk, and it's a transaction cost at the border, as Kun Tei just mentioned. If you carry the goods crossing from China to Laos and to Thailand and to Malaysia, then it's not only the bilateral agreement, but also the trilateral. It's more difficult. So I think right now, our attempts between two countries is more easier, is much more easier. But when we start to have the third country and fourth country, then it takes time. So I still encourage that the ASEAN country should talk more and more and help facilitate how the movement of groups more freely. Because our market, actually, frankly speaking, that the ASEAN country needs Chinese market. And the Chinese also export their goods to our country, not only goods, but their tourists. So I think the smaller country, the young country like Cambodia needs their tourists. And then that's why we need to build their physical infrastructure. But it's not enough, actually. Right. Kun Tei, maybe I can come to you in a question about innovation.  But from your perspective, do you see it as a market of 650 million people, or do you see separate markets within ASEAN when you start to look at investing across the region? This is another fresh question, Ken. But I think from 650 million expanding, we have a very sort of a stage of development in each country. We have a very stage of development of the way of living. And so that is somehow view as the disadvantage. But I see it as the advantage. In having the availability of the resources at the various state. In having the experience of the different level of development in the out 10 membering countries that we can share to the others. Also in the level of the innovation and technology, I think there's very level as well in terms of development of the innovation and also making that innovation industrial practice. I was in the session earlier with the founder of Grab Taxi and we were very impressed with concept that actually provide the platform to provide convenience for transporters as well as provide jobs for people who like to earn extra income. Under their own terms. So those kind of thing happen in certain countries in ASEAN and can apply to others as well. I think the key to all of this coming back to, I think many of us talked about is the level of cooperation among the 10 members. So I would like to maybe promote a theme, collaboration for competitiveness. Because the WVF is actually focusing very much on the national competitiveness. But I think for ASEAN if we can work together in the spirit of ASEAN and create the competitiveness for ASEAN as a group by collaboration, through collaboration, I think it would allow ASEAN to be able to capitalize on this large market, varied stage of development and resources. And the connectivity is actually, we talked a little bit earlier about the topic of this connectivity conundrum, the very high words. But I'm seeing the connectivity as a solution to this puzzle in that if we can really make the connectivity borderless, seamless among the ASEAN countries, then we can maybe look into a solution for a lot of problems in going forwards and actually capture the opportunity out of the potential of ASEANs. And the connectivity, we talk about transportation, we talk about communication, energy, trading, investment, those are the things that would actually drive the economy. But also the enabling part is as equally important, which means the connectivity in financing, in technology, innovation, and also in the talent building, those are the things that would allow us to drive together. And maybe some of the more developed areas in ASEAN can be a pilot project for this innovation technology. And I'm seeing a lot of, shall we say, development of ecosystem for turning the innovation into real business, into startup, that's happening in many of our cities. And that would be applied applicable to a lot of other ASEAN nations as well. Right. Thank you very much. I think there's an interesting point about using the whole of ASEAN as incubating for other parts of ASEAN. I mean, where we can find solutions. Anna, maybe from the bank's perspective, do you see ASEAN as one big market or do you see disparate markets? I think in terms of trade in the region and the software that you nicely summarized in terms of tariffs coming down, it works more and more like one region, like one place, right, the 650 million population. But in terms of working as a bank, in terms of interoperability, Mr. Jin brought up the, I think, first of all, the framework that it's a journey, right? The 2025 is a milestone on quite a long journey. And then he mentioned financial integration is possibly somewhere on that journey. It's quite far away. But I think it's right to start talking about infrastructure and the physical connectivity. It's right to make the case for connectivity as a way to reduce inefficiencies. And then it's right to talk about how we help enterprises scale. And when you look at job creation, to also link in unemployment, it doesn't actually come from the micro SME. It comes from that 10 million to 50 million sales turnover company that gets the help it needs to grow, to internationalize, to employ people. So it's good to start physical connectivity, but it is certainly a multi-decade road. Right, so it's the start, really, over the larger integration. The key ingredient. Right. At this point, maybe I'd like to throw the discussion to the floor. If there are any questions from the audience to our distinguished panelists. Any questions at the moment? Yes, sir. Can we get a mic? And please introduce yourself behind you. Thank you for taking the question. I'd like to... My name's Scott Barber from TravelPorts. I'd like to ask the ministers for tourism, their thoughts on connectivity, specifically in aviation. And the fact that in the Asian countries, there's still high degree of government control. And to what degree does that stop competition? So is this to the two ministers? Yes, please. Yes. Maybe, Mr. Sun? Well, Cambodia, we adopted open sky policy, so there's no really restriction in Cambodia, okay? So practically, you can set up a company here, you can fly in and out of the country, there's no issue. And if you talk about the investment law in Cambodia, I would say that Cambodia probably has the most liberal, open investment regime in Asia. There's no restriction on ownership of the company. You can own 100% of the company in Cambodia. There's no exchange control in the country. So, yeah, just add on to what you're talking about, the aviation. But overall, I'm saying that we just open the economy that you can do practically what you want to do within the law, obviously. Well, in Thailand, too, I think we try to relax government's rules and regulations in our transport sector. For the aviation, I think there is no restriction on that. And the land transport as well. Of course, the infrastructure investment that we try to facilitate, actually, right now we're on the process of issuing the special law on the special economic zone that any companies who are investing in this area will get the maximum benefit, as well as there's no restriction on the shareholder between the local and the international as well. So basically, for both Cambodia and Thailand, a foreign company or a foreign investor can start a business in transportation, in aviation, with no restrictions. May I add, before coming to this session, Tony Fernandez, but with our Prime Minister, and it wasn't that in that meeting, he wanted to set up AirAsia Cambodia. And he asked the Prime Minister, Mr. Prime Minister, can I set up as a joint venture? The Prime Minister said, don't have to take the local partner. All 100% of AirAsia Cambodia is to do it. So this is to let you know that we're very, very, very open. Right. That is very, very good to hear. Any other question? Yes, ma'am. Can we have an eye on them, sirs? The lady first. Thank you. Thank you to a fantastic panelist. My name is Sandra Wu. I'm the CEO of Kopsai Kogyo. And I'm also the co-chair of Web Industry and Urban Development Industry Group this year. And thank you, Minister Sun, came to double our private section this year. My question to Minister Sun and also Minister Koon is, any message, your expectation or your aspiration to the infrastructure and urban development and all my colleagues here, my peers today and also that message that I can take back to my group. Thank you. Well, the message would be that the government will allocate the budget to build the efficiency, to build a better road, connectivity to our living country so that we can export our product to the world, that message. The second message would be please come to Cambodia to look for the opportunity to invest in infrastructure because we will open to the private sector participating in the building of infrastructure in our country. Well, dear, for me, actually, we will make your life more comfortable living in Thailand, invest in Thailand because Thailand is one of the countries that most people like, love Thai people. My job is to make how you can travel more easily, convenient and most important is the safe. Thank you. Is that strong enough a message for you to take back? Yes, sir. Can we have a mic in the front? My name is Gu Yun Chung and I work for a European utility focusing on renewable generation and distribution power networks. In the power sector, traditionally, it's been about large investments, large centralized power stations, large infrastructure transmission lines, and we're already seeing a transition towards decentralized generation and more smaller-sized investments. My question stems from the fact that because of these industries' trends, how do you plan to manage that tension where, even now, we still see governments and even lenders gravitating still towards those big ticket infrastructure projects that have longer build times and that have risks of becoming stranded assets? And we are struggling with trying to manage these small investments and how to scale that. So I would like to ask the panel, given this trend towards more decentralized, more smaller investments, how do you plan and how do you try to grapple with that tendency towards preferring bigger projects? Thank you. President Jin, maybe you can take a shot at that. Well, the very short, straightforward answer is that the public sector and the private sector should really work together. And I think you need a lot of government support. Now, I'm very much encouraged by the two ministers representing these two economists in ASEAN. As you see, power transmission, building the smart power grid is very, very important in this region. And since you are very small, compared to, say, big countries like China, how do you build a power plant? How do you build a super-critical power plant for being cost-effective? And that plant, power plant, may account for more than 20, even 30% of the entire power supply. And how can your domestic power grid handle that? To be safe, you must reduce the power supply from one plant below, let's say, 15% or something. But when you work together, have this smart power grid, I think you can achieve a lot of economic efficiency. And smaller companies certainly can contribute. But I think it calls for regional cooperation in this regard. That is no less important than road, railway, sports connectivity. I don't know whether I answer your question or not. Anna, you want to add to that? From a financial perspective, I mean, one thing that we see even with the large projects is sometimes they're not big enough, because investors want to not be the only party in there. They want something already pooled, and they want like 50 to 200 million is kind of the sweet spot for a single investor.  So from a financing and investment perspective, it's going to be about pooling, right, and finding the way that you can pool and make those vehicles more investable. Yes, maybe if I can add to that. I think the technology, the innovation that we talk about will come in and maybe support the sort of distributed power generation, distributed grid management, in particular the energy storage technology, which will soon be available at the feasible cost to allow the individual producer to manage their own power supply into their own place, and also the digitization of the grid system would allow the distributed smart grid to be a bit more efficient. The energy storage system would allow the non-dependable power generation to be a bit more dependable, will allow the grid management of the surplus supply in certain times to be used for the under supply in certain peak period, and that also would reduce the requirement for the investment in the infrastructure for the reserves of the power plants as well. So those are the technology that will come in handy into the more efficient energy management. Thank you very much. You have a question? No. Sorry? Oh yes, please. I am from the company NG, which is one of the largest multivariate companies, but I will not talk as NG, I will talk as a terawatt initiative, among the point to mention decentralization and at the same time having minimum amounts of deals for the investors to come, I would say solar PV today for all countries located between both tropics might be the answer, because solar PV today can be considered as commodities. There is a lot of work being done on solar PV being a commodity. There are no more technical tricks in developing solar PV. The issue is of course financing and there is a lot of a lot of thoughts which are being and work being done by multilateral, regional, bilateral and investment funds and so-called blended finance. You can have standardised contract for solar PV as much as you have standardised contract for oil, for gas, for rates, whatever. This is I guess one of the answers to access to electricity combining at the same time the necessity to pool to have standard investment possibilities and also to have decentralised energy. Thank you. Thank you very much. Last question before we have to wrap up. Make it quick. Ministers, Excellencies, thank you very much. My name is Kwong Wing, advisor for the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. Really enjoy your session. My question really is I mean amongst all the things that are coming up in ASEAN. We have new power plants, we have new search of energy, we need electric city, transfer of funds and so on. How does education come into the picture? Education in the areas of capacity building, public-private partnership and also of course building closer relations through economic development. So that is my question to you. Thank you very much. I think just before we pass the question to the Ministers, maybe you can also take this opportunity to give us your final thoughts on this whole conundrum and whether or not we can ever put this puzzle together. Sir, Ministers first. Well, I think the funding is one of the major issues for the connectivity. The funding through concession and loan, multilateral agency or the private sector. Until private sectors, we need to have rule regulations and predictability, accountability and also some guarantee in order to attract the FDI in that area and also we need to work on a bankable project if we talk about PPP and so on and so forth. But the connectivity itself is extremely important for economic development of the country and that's why we continue to invest heavily in the infrastructure. Let me answer your question a little bit there on education. Our private minister gave four priorities 30 years ago. To build Cambodia, needed roads, electricity, water, human resources. Those four elements still apply for today. So in our industrial development policy, 2015, 2025, wanted the pillar to ensure that our industrial development policy is successful to move Cambodia from a low-income country to a high-income country, we need to invest heavily in the skilled labor force. So that's one of the investment that we're going to invest. And we also encourage the private sector to participate in the human resource development for our country. Thank you. I would agree that education is fundamental to all economic areas, especially in Thailand. I would say that we are now in the process of their education reform. But one thing is that, because there are lots of things happening in ASEAN, not only Thailand, but many countries, urban development, infrastructure development, industrial development as well. Particularly in Thailand, we're moving on to the new, what we call the new S-curve, the new industry. We need the higher quality of the labor force in infrastructure when we're moving towards more rail connectivity, and especially on the high-speed rail. So we need the people who can work with the new technology as well. So this is kind of not only the education, you need the people, the young people to study in the scientific area. But secondly, it's not enough. We need the training program. We need to learn from the OEM, the country who are providing the technology as well. So I think for us, we are in the process of not only reforming our education system, but exchanging the knowledge between the vendor and the buyer as well. President Jin. Thank you very much. Today we talk about something, we focus on some limited areas of the whole economy. I think it's very much important for any government to have a macro program for their own country and also taking into consideration the impact on the neighboring countries. So in this regard, I would say certainly education is very much important. Human resources are the most critical, most important resources of all. And education cuts across all the sectors. Now, if a country may be not richly endowed with natural resources, but in developing human resources, I would say policy makes more difference in this regard. And there's nothing you can do about it. If you don't have oil, if you don't have minerals, some of the countries are very poor in these natural resources. But because they develop education, so they bring the economy to develop at a very high speed. So, and then you will find we will cover more areas than we focus here today. But this is not really something we discussed today, but I think it is important. Absolutely. Anna? Okay, so I guess I would say what this highlighted again for me is the long-term nature of this build. It's 2025, it's just around the corner in terms of putting all this connected infrastructure in place. And yet it's criticality to eliminate inefficiencies in trade. But I'd say we're quite optimistic, at least from the financial world's perspective, that they will get financed. There's a lot of money out there, a lot of interest in these projects, and we'll need to work together to take the maximum amount of volatility out of this long-term investment horizon. So, maximum regulatory stability, working together to take commodity currency, other risk out of it. But if we do that, we'll get there. Thank you. To me, I think the connectivity may be about stepping out from our usual challenge a little bit, stepping out from our challenge of solving our individual organization problems, our individual countries' problems, our nation's problems, and then set aside certain time to talk about the regional issues to make the connectivity a bit more efficient.  Because sometimes when we are really focused from inside out, it's going to be very difficult. If I may, I'd like to touch on the education a little bit, because there's something that is, I personally always puzzle on where we're going because of this new technology, this artificial intelligence, this digitization. It posed a question of, what should education be focused on in the future? Of course, the fundamental of education is still there. We do need people with certain skills and knowledge. But I think for the advanced education, it's something that we may need to really consider what would be the critical competency of human beings to survive or to excel in the future in the environment of artificial intelligence being developed. And I also heard from my colleagues who participated in the session yesterday that the concept of formal education may have to be reviewed rather than, you know, the education in school and college. Because of the continued development of the new technology, we may need an ongoing, continuous education, sort of informal to keep update of this technology to allow us to keep updated. Thank you very much. I think we've had a fantastic panel discussion, and I thank my panelists for their thoughts and their insights. I think the big takeaway from our morning session today is really that I think connectivity is critical to ASEAN. There are many players, but I think the governments, the private sector, and of course the multilateral institutions working together, I think with civil society and with the society at large will help us probably solve this conundrum. So thank you very much, and please join me in thanking our panelists. Thank you.