KUALA LUMPUR: Asean member states must adhere to the principles of centrality, neutrality and non-alignment as the region navigates forward, says Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz (pic).
The Investment, Trade and Industry Minister said Asean must try its best to align common interests and respond in a more coordinated manner to navigate the current complexities of global trade.
“Towards that end, Malaysia takes its role as the Chair of Asean seriously,” said Tengku Zafrul in his speech during the pre-media briefing on the Asean Economic Community Strategic Plan 2026-2030 yesterday.
Collectively, he said Asean and dialogue partners have also reaffirmed support for a rules-based multilateral trading system.
“As Asean Chair, Malaysia will continue to prioritise constructive engagements, premised on trade diplomacy.
“Up till recently, we are reasonably sure that Asean has and will continue being a region where investments and trade thrive. We are reasonably sure that Asean is well on its way to becoming the world’s fourth largest economic bloc by 2030.
“Today, to ensure those projections remain true in the years to come, we need to organise and coordinate ourselves better,” he said.
Asked about how Asean would navigate on the fears of certain products flooding the market amid the global trade war, Tengku Zafrul said the Asean economic ministers have decided that the bloc needed to form a GeoEconomic Task Force at the Asean level to address the issue.
“The decision was for Malaysia and Indonesia to co-lead this,” he said.
Malaysia will host the 46th Asean Summit and Related Summits on Monday and Tuesday.
Wisma Putra is taking the lead in organising these summits under Malaysia’s Asean chairmanship this year with the theme “Inclusivity and Sustainability”.
Two other high-level meetings – the 2nd Asean-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit and the Asean-GCC-China Economic Summit – will also be held.
