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Dear APREA Members,
The Asia Pacific region showed improved vitality in 2023 as we finally moved on from the pandemic and the world reopened. India as well as many of the Southeast Asian economies have been among the strongest performers in the past year, albeit China’s recovery has been unsteady at the same time that vulnerabilities in the global macro landscape persisted. Hence, the work and mission of APREA are more crucial than ever.
During this time of transformation, we managed to hit more milestones, with membership growing for the fifth year in a row as more global investors across the region joined APREA in 2023, leveraging on Asia Pacific’s growth story. Having resumed the practice of visiting our international chapters in the past year and met many of our members and partners in person, I was very encouraged by the excitement and support given to APREA.
The work we do matters and has impact. We help our members and partners navigate macro dynamics, bring insights and solutions that enable their growth, and allow them to leverage on our extensive global network with a track record of successful collaborations. When the Asia Pacific region fully reopened in 2023, we convened over 700 leaders through our various in-person activities and events in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore. Such initiatives have always been central to fostering cross-border opportunities.
Our country teams worked tirelessly throughout the past year to help Governments enact laws that are conducive to the growth of the real assets industry. In India, APREA had made several tax recommendations before the Ministry of Finance to make necessary amendments to existing tax laws governing real estate investment trusts (REITs) and infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs) to ensure tax provisions are aligned with stakeholders’ expectations.
The recommendations relating to withholding tax exemption on interest distributed by special purpose vehicles (SPVs) to REITs and InvITs and permitting REITs and InvITs to make an application for lower or NIL tax withholding on exempt income were considered and appropriate amendments were introduced. The revised legislations were instrumental in maximising distributions to shareholders by REITs and InvITs.
While REITs and InVITs benefited from these monumental changes, we are thankful to the Government of India for this progressive policy change that has brought much needed relief to developers and institutional owners of commercial real estate who are struggling with special economic zone (SEZ) vacancies. The SEZ rule amendment permitting partial conversion of SEZ spaces into non-processing areas furthers the Government's vision of enhancing ease of doing business and employment generation.
Our 2023 achievements also include reinforcing our environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) and sustainability commitments, with more initiatives designed to provide practical guidance to our members to help them achieve their decarbonisation ambitions. In November, we released the APREA ESG Reporting Playbook. Navigating ESG frameworks has become front-of-mind for our industry stakeholders, and therefore this playbook is envisioned to guide compliance and reporting requirements. Additionally, part of our ESG efforts are focused on promoting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in the real assets industry. In 2023, we brought together over 100 DEI champions across the region to share ideas and explore what more can be done to reflect the diverse communities that we serve. Of course, our work to promote DEI remains ongoing and immutable.
The most successful sustainability initiatives are those that can be upheld for the long-term, and the groundwork we laid over the last several years will help our stakeholders do just that. We will continue to expand our ESG program in 2024 with more hands-on workshops, delivering tangible outcomes and even greater impact for our stakeholders in the real assets community.
By most measures, we ended the year 2023 in a stronger position than we started. I would like to convey my heartfelt gratitude and appreciation for the APREA Board of Directors and over 100 members serving our local chapter boards and committees for their unwavering and ongoing support. We are also grateful for the trust our members and partners place in us and energized by the progress we are achieving together. Needless to say, none of this would be possible without the efforts and dedication of our high-performing APREA team.
Our priorities for 2024 and beyond remains unchanged: to continue enhancing our capabilities that will further expand our global network with the ultimate goal of elevating the real assets industry. I am honoured to lead this organization now and into the future, and look forward to continued momentum in the years ahead.
Sincerely,
Sigrid G. Zialcita
CEO
Watch a video featuring memorable snapshots of APREA activities across the region in 2023.
