Canada-ASEAN Business Leaders Series

The Canada-ASEAN Business Leaders Series, held in partnership with the Government of Canada, is CABC’s flagship annual programme aimed at strengthening Canada-ASEAN economic ties through high-level dialogue, research, networking, and business engagement. Aligned with Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, the 2025 Series seeks to advance trade, investment, and business partnerships, connect Canadian and ASEAN stakeholders, and support greater private sector collaboration across the region. Leveraging Malaysia’s ASEAN Chairmanship in 2025, the programme will facilitate discussions on regional economic priorities and key sectors including technology, energy, agriculture, and infrastructure, while contributing insights to policymakers and trade negotiations. Through flagship initiatives such as the Canada-ASEAN Business Outlook Survey, the Canada-ASEAN Trade Complementarity Study, and the Canada-ASEAN Business Forum, the Series serves as a platform to strengthen Canada’s engagement with ASEAN and promote sustainable economic growth and partnership across the Indo-Pacific.

The Canada-ASEAN Business Leaders Series is CABC’s flagship annual programme designed to strengthen Canada’s economic engagement with Southeast Asia through high-level dialogue, networking, research, and business development activities. Following CABC’s recognition as an ASEAN-accredited entity in January 2024, the only Canadian organization and one of only three joint business councils to receive this status, the 2024 Series expanded its reach and impact across the region. Aligned with Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy and the ASEAN-Canada Strategic Partnership, the programme featured over a dozen activities spanning seven ASEAN markets, covering priority sectors such as trade and investment, agriculture and food security, energy transition, infrastructure, and the digital economy. Building on the success of previous years, the 2024 Series continued to serve as the leading platform for Canada-ASEAN business and policy engagement, bringing together senior government officials, business leaders, and stakeholders to advance economic cooperation and create new opportunities for partnership across the region.

The Canada-ASEAN Business Leaders Series, held in Partnership with the Government of Canada, is CABC’s core events programme, offering a series of events spread over the duration of a year with the objective of driving Canada-ASEAN private sector integration through high-quality networking, government-to-government relations, and driving dialogue on key strategic areas to foster joint action and partnerships between decision-makers in Canada and ASEAN countries. The 2023 Series is a year-long programme hosted in key markets of economic importance to Canadian firms and investors, to facilitate Canada’s strategic engagement with the region under its Indo-Pacific strategy. 

The CABC’s year-long 2022 Canada-ASEAN Business Leaders Series featured ten high-impact events - twice the amount of events then the first year of the Series - that successfully provided a platform to foster more integration between the business and policy communities across Canada and ASEAN. The events features mainly webinars conducted on the Zoom platform in addition to two live events, covering the following topics:

CABC’s year-long virtual 2021 Canada-ASEAN Business Leaders Series was comprised of eight high-impact events, that successfully provided a platform to foster more integration between the ASEAN and Canada business communities.

The first fully-virtual Canada-ASEAN Business Leaders Series in 2020. The CABC is committed to providing this platform for the Canada-ASEAN business community to meet, discuss, and build a resilient trade partnership together throughout the COVID-19 crisis and into the new normal ahead. The 6-month Series will address the key market, sector, and policy topics that matter to business leaders.