Investment, Trade, and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz - BERNAMA
KUALA LUMPUR: Asean member countries must focus on maintaining Asean centrality and leverage their role as middle powers to address industry concerns amid shifting geopolitical dynamics, says Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz.
The Investment, Trade and Industry minister highlighted that Asean has always been successful in positioning itself as a non-aligned region, providing a conducive and safe environment for investors to build their investments.
“Asean should take this opportunity to position itself to capture more investment opportunities.
“In the last three years, foreign direct investment (FDI) into Asean has shown positive growth, despite negative FDI globally,” he said during the Asean-Malaysia Business Forum 2024 yesterday.
Tengku Zafrul said one of Malaysia’s main agendas when it assumes the Asean chair in 2025 will be to finalise the Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA).
He noted that this will open up more opportunities for local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to be involved in the digital economy and gain market access across all Asean countries.
“Some have said the existing Asean trade agreement only involves large companies. At the moment, intra-Asean trade is only at 23% to 25%.
“With DEFA, SMEs will be able to participate more actively in digital commerce, providing them with greater market access in the region,” he said.
With Asean’s gross domestic product (GDP) projected to reach US$4.5 trillion by 2030, Tengku Zafrul said Malaysia’s chairmanship is a crucial opportunity to promote deeper integration and resilience.
“Malaysia is determined to ensure the economic wins of regional integration benefit all, including women, youth and micro, medium and small enterprises.”
He said Malaysia’s Asean chairmanship also comes at a pivotal time for the country as many of the Madani government’s efforts are showing results.
“Firstly, target industries including aerospace, electrical and electronics, chemicals, digital economy, and pharmaceutical – now have a clear growth path.
“Secondly, investments into Malaysia have increased considerably.
“In the first half of 2024, we approved RM160bil of investments, up 18% year-on-year (y-o-y),” he said, adding that the implementation rate of the approved investments is over 80%.
“Thirdly, trade, too, has increased. In the first 10 months of 2024, it was up 9.3% y-o-y to reach RM2.38 trillion,” he said.
Additionally, for the first nine months of 2024, Malaysia’s GDP grew 5.2% with fiscal reforms, such as targeted subsidies and reducing budget deficit, already underway.
“There has never been a better time for youths, women and SMEs to position themselves to ride on the country’s growth trajectory, which will also ride on Asean’s growth story,” Tengku Zafrul said.
Meanwhile, the minister told reporters that the imposition of tariffs by the United States is an economic measure tied to specific issues, which can be addressed through engagement, and is not related to Asean’s neutrality.
“The US may have its own views on how tariffs can help their industries and stop unfair competition.
“This is not about neutrality, it’s about economics.
“Hence, Malaysia and the region must engage with the United States, or any other country imposing tariffs, to explain why a tariff might be unfair.
“If it is deemed fair, we need to focus on ensuring that our industries remain competitive,” he added.
