ASEAN Economic Community Council Statement on the Substantial Conclusion of the ASEAN DEFA Negotiations

1. Today, 24 October 2025, the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) Council gathered at the 26th AEC Council Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to announce the substantial conclusion of the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA) Negotiations as one of the Priority Economic Deliverables (PEDs) under Malaysia's ASEAN Chairmanship. DEFA is expected to be the world's first most comprehensive regional agreement on the digital economy. Since the launch of negotiations in September 2023, the ASEAN DEFA Negotiating Committee has convened fourteen (14) rounds of constructive negotiations to make this possible through active contributions of all ASEAN Member States and under Thailand's leadership.
2. This milestone marks a pivotal chapter in ASEAN's digital transformation journey. The DEFA is the penultimate action item under the Bandar Seri Begawan Roadmap: An ASEAN Digital Transformation Agenda to Accelerate ASEAN's Economic Recovery and Digital Economy Integration (BSBR) which was adopted in 2021. DEFA serves as a key strategy for ASEAN's comprehensive post-COVID recovery with the aim of accelerating inclusive digital transformation in the region. In recognition of the immense potential of digital technologies that drive our economic growth, the AEC Council has accelerated the preparatory work and launched the DEFA negotiations on 3 September 2023. The DEFA, as the first regional-wide digital economy arrangement, is a concrete step towards realising the ASEAN vision to develop a modern, comprehensive, and coherent digital transformation strategy towards an ASEAN Digital Economy, where the seamless and secure flow of goods, services, and data is underpinned by enabling rules, regulation, infrastructure, and talent; improve cooperation in cybersecurity and establish frameworks to protect data privacy. This will empower and connect ASEAN-based businesses, including MSMEs, to regional and global markets, and strengthen collective and individual economic competitiveness and resilience as highlighted in the Leaders Statement on DEFA during the 43rd ASEAN Summit in 2023.

Download the full statement here.