South East Asia

Given the high rates of economic growth in some urban conurbations of Southeast Asia, the resource-intensive development currently underway, and rising social tensions, InWEnt's programmes are geared to helping bring about sustainable growth in the economic, ecological and social sectors. Important fields of action include compliance with social standards, vocational training, financial systems development, promotion of the health sector, regional trade and the increasing integration of countries of the region into world trade. In Southeast Asia, InWEnt implements programmes primarily on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

InWEnt's activities in Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia are coordinated by our office in Hanoi, Viet Nam, while our Manila office in the Philippines is responsible for activities in the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand. In South East Asia InWEnt's programmes focus in particular on Viet Nam, the Philippines and Indonesia. For InWEnt's approach, cooperation with regional institutions (e.g. the Asian Development Bank, Mekong River Commission, ASEM), trans-national dialogue and the promotion of regional development approaches are vitally important.

Within the framework of development cooperation with Thailand, which will soon be wound up, and in the context of the anchor country debate with Thailand and Indonesia along with a few other emerging nations in South East Asia, an increasing willingness can be seen on the part of partner countries to make their own contributions to InWEnt programmes. On the basis of tried and tested programmes in cooperation with other German federal and state-level ministries, and with private industry, there are plans to further expand our programme portfolio, with increasing private-sector involvement. InWEnt is also planning to extend trilateral cooperation with emergent countries and anchor states.