Since 1974, Australia has been continuously preserved and strengthened its role as the dialogue partner of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). This September, both sides once again hold many conventions and meetings to redouble the collaboration across three pillars of the ASEAN community, namely the ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC); the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC).

As the CEO at ASW Global – the offshoring service provider in Southeast Asia, I highly appreciate the educational exchange and promotion that sprouted from this prolific partnership. Last year alone, we welcomed nearly 92,000 students from ASEAN countries to Australia and will witness 10,000 young Australians studying abroad in return. As a result, I have directly interviewed many talented staff who studied or, in some cases, even worked in Australia before coming back to their home countries.

From an experienced businessman’s perspective, this trend actually allows Australian companies to invest or go offshore in ASEAN countries while sustaining the required quality in their delegated functions. And since the Australia-ASEAN partnership has just been reaffirmed up to 2019, there will be more and more opportunities to be discovered in this dynamic economic bloc.