Given members’ increased interest in, and preoccupation with, geo-politics, we were very pleased to host Dr. Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for Foreign Affairs again today as the guest speaker for The Signature Series. It seems only yesterday when we last hosted him in November 2017. Much has changed in the world since then and, yet, much is still the same.

The minister gave us a very thoughtful and insightful commentary on geo-politics, ASEAN and Singapore. The digital economy and generative AI make for a profound moment of change for the human race, for healthcare as well as for the future of work. The implications of this moment will be more far reaching than those of previous industrial revolutions.

We live at a time where everything from technology, energy, food, fertilisers, drugs, currency and trade can be weaponized like never before all justified by national security. This practice has echoes of the decade before World War I which is cause for concern.

Notwithstanding these events, there are plenty of business opportunities in ASEAN with its demographic dividend. There is much hope of progress in Africa, the Middle East and South America too.

Because of its small size, Singapore is not neutral on principles and has consistently practised this policy for more than 50 years. As with businesses, so with Singapore: only the paranoid survive!