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The scale and scope of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in many Asian economies calls for specific attention to be given to their corporate governance.  While their economic significance varies from country to country, they still represent an important, if not dominant, part of the regional economy.  SOEs in Asia, as in some OECD countries, are prominent in energy, transportation, electricity, gas, water supply, natural resource extraction, telecommunication and financial service industries.  It is in the interest of every country to ensure that state-owned assets are well-managed seeing that they often represent a significant part of GDP, employment, and fiscal revenues of a country.  Good SOE corporate governance is a key part of enhancing performance and supporting national development goals.

The OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises were adopted in 2005 and provide the first international benchmark in this area. At this time, the OECD-Asia Network on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises was established under the auspices of the OECD-Asian Roundtable on Corporate Governance to raise awareness and promote the use in Asian economies of the OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises.

The Network has met five times in five different Asian countries since 2006 and in order to keep the dialogue purposeful and to produce tangible outcomes, it has progressively developed a Regional Policy Brief, providing a set of recommendations and priorities for policy reform to improve the corporate governance of SOEs in the economies of Asia. Using this document and the OECD Guidelines on the Corporate Governance of State Owned Enterprises, the Network will focus on identifying reform priorities for individual countries.

The Network serves to:

• raise awareness of all concerned constituencies on the importance and challenges related to the good corporate governance of SOEs
   
• evaluate current SOE corporate governance policy frameworks and practices, benchmarking these against international good practice as described in the Guidelines
   
• influence policy making by providing a forum in which policy makers, practitioners and experts can share knowledge and experience among themselves and with their OECD peers
   
• support viable and effective reforms in the area of SOE corporate governance, by discussing and analysing policy options, developing relevant recommendations and agreeing on priorities for reforms adapted to the conditions in Asian economies

Events

7th meeting of the Asia SOE Network, 3-4 July 2012

6th meeting of the Asia SOE Network, 17-18 May 2011

5th meeting of the OECD Network on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises in Asia, 24-25 May 2010

4th Meeting of the Network on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises in Asia, 20-21 May 2009

Third meeting of the Asia Network on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Assets, 25-26 June 2008

2nd meeting of the Network on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises in Asia, 19-20 April 2007

Asia Network on Corporate Governance of State Owned Enterprises - Singapore, 15-16 May 2006, 15-16 May 2006