Logistics: ASEAN's multibillion-dollar key to a COVID recovery

As troubled bloc gathers, OECD advises how to maximize trade efficiency

20211021 Northport port in Port Klang, Malaysia

A container terminal in Malaysia: The OECD estimates ASEAN's potential benefits from reduced freight costs, greater competition and increased trade at $4.5 billion per annum, but knock-on effects could push that number much higher. © Getty Images

DOMINIC FAULDER, Nikkei Asia associate editor

October 25, 2021 15:01 JST

BANGKOK -- Brunei Darussalam, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' rotating chair for this year, has struggled under the overly cheerful banner "We care, we prepare, we prosper."

Its stint at the helm ends with the unprecedented exclusion of the Myanmar military leadership from this week's transitional three-day summit, following months of bloodshed. And few ASEAN members have "prospered" in the COVID-19 pandemic this year, after mostly fending off 2020's much milder early waves.