Seoul, Republic of Korea — September 8, 2025.
The GFCE South-East Asia Hub is pleased to share that its Regional Director, Engr. Allan Salim Cabanlong, ASEAN Eng., participated as a panelist at the World Emerging Security Forum (WESF) 2025, Session 3: Resilience of Critical Infrastructure – Reducing Multidimensional Vulnerabilities, held at the Grand Hyatt Seoul.
Director Cabanlong joined a distinguished panel alongside Director General Gillian Frost (Global Affairs Canada), Adewale Peter Obadare (Digital Encode Limited), and Professor Joanna Kulesza (University of Lodz, Poland), with James Sullivan (RUSI) serving as moderator.
In his intervention, Director Cabanlong underscored that critical infrastructure resilience must be multidimensional. He emphasized that in Southeast Asia, cyber-technical risks, economic shocks, governance gaps, and social fragility intersect to create cascading vulnerabilities that cannot be addressed by technical safeguards alone.
He highlighted three key messages:
- Resilience beyond cybersecurity — the need to integrate technical fortification, cross-sectoral collaboration, economic preparedness, and community-level adaptability.
- Learning from global practices — drawing insights from ASEAN, the European Union, South Korea, and the GFCE to demonstrate that resilience is a collective responsibility.
- The way forward — advancing integrated strategies, cross-border exercises, and sustained capacity building to ensure that no country or community is left behind.
Director Cabanlong concluded with a strong call for collaboration:
“Resilience is not built in isolation. It is cultivated through trust, collaboration, and adaptability.”
The GFCE SEA Hub extends its appreciation to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea and the WESF Secretariat for their warm hospitality and for convening an important platform that advances dialogue on emerging security challenges.
