Christian Viegelahn

Christian Viegelahn is a Senior Economist at the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in Bangkok. He joined the ILO in 2011 and spent several years at ILO’s Research Department in Geneva, before moving to ILO’s Bangkok Office in 2018. His research focuses on labor economics, the future of work, international trade, global value chains, and macroeconomics. He is also member of the ILO-wide task team on COVID-19 and has been undertaking extensive research on the labor market impact of the current crisis.

Regional Integration in Asia: Trends and Issues

Regional integration shows large variations across subregions and six dimensions, with Southeast Asia being the most advanced. Asian financial markets and systems, meanwhile, are still more integrated globally than regionally. This presentation highlights Asia’s regional integration trends, with discussions on relevant topics such as the Asia-Pacific Regional Integration Index, trade and global value chains, and cross-border investment.