This publication was prepared under the leadership of María del Pilar Garrido Gonzalo, Director of the OECD Development Co-operation Directorate, in close co-ordination with the OECD's Southeast Asia Regional Programme, led by Andreas Schaal, Director of the Global Relations and Co-operation Directorate.
Shashwat Koirala (Economist) led the co-ordination and drafting of the report, with contributions from Gabriele Crisfoaro (Junior Policy Analyst). The work was supervised by Jens Sedemund (Head of the Climate, Biodiversity and Sustainable Ocean Unit) with strategic guidance from Eva Beuselinck (Head of the Policies and Networks Division) – both within the OECD's Development Co-operation Directorate. Strategic steer in stakeholder engagement was provided by colleagues from the OECD's Global Relations and Co-operation Directorate: Alexander Bohmer (Head of the Southeast Asia Division), Max Bulakovskiy (Head of the Project Implementation Unit), Hans Koger (Junior Policy Analyst) and Marta Bertanzetti (Junior Policy Analyst). Harsh Desai (Acting Head of the Statistical Collections and Dissemination Unit, Development Co-operation Directorate) provided guidance on generating forecasts of official development assistance for the ocean economy. Meral Gedik provided editorial support and prepared the report for publication.
The report was informed by discussions and insights gathered through engagement with stakeholders involved in developing and implementing the ASEAN Blue Economy Framework and its subsequent implementation plan. Two milestones, in particular, offered opportunities for engagement and information-gathering: the Intersessional Meeting of the ASEAN Co-ordinating Task Force on Blue Economy (August 2025) and the ASEAN Blue Economy Forum (September 2025). The author is grateful for the partnership of the ASEAN Secretariat – Kanchana Wanichkorn, Arief Rizky Bakhtiar, Soon Hong Kwan and Latifahaida Abdul Latif – and the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia – Intan M. Ramli – in facilitating engagement with these fora, as well as for their substantive input during the development of the report. Thanks are also due to Michelle Voyer of the Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources & Security and Kelly Hoareau of the Blue Economy Cooperative Research Centre and the blue economy focal points of ASEAN member states for their inputs and insights.
Feedback from the following OECD colleagues is also gratefully acknowledged: Claire Jolly, James Jolliffe, Bophha Chhuun, Emma Raitiri, Hans Koger and Sergio Giorgana Ampudia. Comments and input from the following members of the Development Assistance Committee’s Network on Environment and Development Co-operation also helped inform the report: Italy, the European Union and New Zealand.
The report also benefited from exchanges and meetings held at several international conferences, namely the International Maritime Organisation’s Innovation Forum (October 2024), the Great Ocean Dialogue (November 2024), the Finance in Common Summit (February 2025), the Our Ocean Conference (April 2025) and the Third United Nations Ocean Conference (June 2025).
The report was made possible by the generous voluntary contribution of the Government of Italy.