BEIJING: Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim expressed confidence in promoting cooperation between China and the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) as his country will officially assume the chair of the Asean on January 1, 2025.
Earlier, Malaysia said it will place inclusivity and sustainability at the forefront of its chairmanship of the Asean.
As Malaysia assumes Asean chairmanship, Prime Minister Anwar stressed that he will prioritize effective collaboration to strengthen the region's unity, he said during the interview with China Central Television (CCTV) in Beijing.
"Our focus for Asean would include, of course, political stability, effective collaboration between countries, even dealing with somewhat more precarious or contested issues," he said.
In October, leaders of China and Asean countries announced substantial conclusion of Version 3.0 China-Asean Free Trade Area (FTA) upgrade negotiations at the 27th China-Asean Summit held in Vientiane, Laos.
It is expected to pave the way for one of the world's most populous and robust FTAs to play a bigger role in boosting regional development amid rising global protectionism.
Anwar said that his country has been accelerating the promotion of the signing of the 3.0 upgrade protocol and cooperation between China and Asean countries.
"We have now accelerated the process. Meetings among officials is ongoing. And we are quite confident that we could cement that sort of understanding by next year. We happen to be, other than Asean, we are also the country coordinator between Asean and China.
"So, we will do whatever is necessary, not only to facilitate but to accelerate the process. And therefore I am quite optimistic," he said.
China was the largest source of Asean imports in 2023, with 23.9% of the total, followed by Asean member states (20.9%), the US (7.4%), South Korea (7.0%) and Japan (6.9%). Travel, transport and other business services dominate Asean's export and import of services. - Agencies
