Economic growth was critical to ensure political stability, Ong said, adding that a rising middle class across Asean had seen 5 per cent growth since last year.

That growth, which Ong expected to top 7 per cent, could be furthered by integrative mechanisms, he said.

The most prominent example was the Asean Free Trade Area pact signed in 1992, followed by the formal debut of the Asean Economic Community, which has helped to realise tariff reductions and facilitated cross-border trade, investment and the transfer of capital.

Asean should also keep working on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, a proposed FTA among Asean member countries as well as Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand, which all have existing FTAs with Asean.

“A study from McKinsey & Company shows that a fully integrated Asean economy could raise our economy by 10 per cent,” Ong said. “Without [integration], Asean will eventually lose out from competition between India and China.”

To accelerate economic progress, he said, efficient implementation of technology should be considered. Already a digital industry hub, Asean had the potential to be ranked among the world’s top-five digital economies by 2025, he said.

With hundreds of thousands of new mobile phone users in Asean countries, modernisation should boost growing markets and not instead hinder traditional employment in industry, allowing job creation to prosper, he said.

Sophisticated technology would also help to balance supply and demand in growing Asean labour markets as well as regulate transboundary issues, including the rise of extremism that needed to be checked, he said.

Asean must also pick the right instruments to develop young people as a vital element of Asean’s future, Ong said. A majority of the 630 million people in Asean, excluding Singapore and Thailand, are young people.

The younger generation would not only help maintain dynamic growth in Asean, but also enhance Asean’s capacity to invest, given that economies cannot be wholly reliant on natural resources but also depend on human resources, Ong said.

Ong, a Singaporean diplomat who served as secretary-general from 2003 to 2007, spoke during a special lecture at the Foreign Ministry as a part of commemorative activities on the occasion of 50th anniversary of Asean.