KUALA LUMPUR: As the 2025 ASEAN chair Malaysia will focus on leveraging the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world’s largest trade agreement now in force.
Investment, Trade, and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said fully implementing the RCEP could position ASEAN as a hub for regional growth.
This could be the key highlight of Malaysia’s chairmanship, he said in his closing remarks at the ASEAN Economic Opinion Leaders Conference: Outlook for 2025.
RCEP involves 15 countries - the 10 ASEAN member countries namely, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, and the other five being Australia, China, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.
RCEP is the world’s largest free trade agreement (FTA). It makes up about 30 per cent of the global gross domestic product (GDP) and about a third of the world’s population.
It has a mechanism for free trade among participating countries with a set of rules and procedures for accessing preferential tariffs across the countries.
Tengku Zafrul said Malaysia also intends to strongly drive negotiations on the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA), launched in 2023.
By 2030, the digital economy could add US$2 trillion to the region, but for that to happen, Malaysia must help ASEAN nations harmonise their digital policies, he said.
As the ASEAN chair, Malaysia will also propose a joint declaration on the ASEAN-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economic cooperation during the 46th ASEAN Summit in May 2025.
This declaration will pave the way for closer economic ties with the GCC, a region with significant economic potential, Tengku Zafrul said. - Bernama
