KUALA LUMPUR: “I will continue to serve the government and the country,” says outgoing Investment, Trade and Industry (Miti) Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz.
On his last official day as a Cabinet minister yesterday, Tengku Zafrul said he will continue to serve the country in any capacity he can.
During the Concorde Club meeting yesterday, he said he had conveyed such intentions to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
“The Prime Minister also mentioned yesterday (Monday) during the event (that it will be announced). So we wait until Dec 3.
“But I have to admit that I did talk to the Prime Minister before, and I did state that I am willing to support in any capacity, to support the government, to support the country.
“But I don’t know what the Prime Minister has decided,” Tengku Zafrul said during the press conference at Wisma Bernama yesterday.
On Monday, Anwar said he will announce a new role for Tengku Zafrul today after he completed his second senatorship term yesterday, as the latter still has responsibilities to carry out.
Reflecting on his ministerial roles in recent years, Tengku Zafrul shared that it was a challenging year as Malaysia was also chair of Asean and his ministry was tasked with handling the US tariff negotiations.
“Personally, I’m lucky to have a strong team to support me and the ministry as the government navigated these challenges.
“The US-Malaysia agreement on reciprocal trade (ART) is a very important agreement. It protects not only our market access but also the livelihoods of millions of Malaysians.
“We did the best we can. We will continue to engage with the United States and continue to diversify into other markets and strengthen our companies.
End of a chapter: Tengku Zafrul (front row, fifth from right) posing for a group photo with editors and journalists during his farewell Concorde Club session at Wisma Bernama in Kuala Lumpur. The event was moderated by Bernama chairman Datuk Seri Wong Chun Wai (on Tengku Zafrul’s right). Also present was Star Media Group business editor Jagdev Singh Sidhu (back row, second from left). — ART CHEN/The Star
“The other challenge is to ensure that Malaysian companies remain competitive,” he added.
Addressing the talks with China following ART, Tengku Zafrul said the Chinese government has proposed an MoU to further strengthen the collaboration on trade and investment between the two countries.
While the details of the MoU are still preliminary, he said the parameters are to look at how Malaysia and China can improve on bringing investments to both countries.
“We see how the respective countries can improve, whereby Malaysian companies go to China and China companies come to Malaysia.
“We are also looking at strategic sectors that they feel Malaysia can also support Chinese companies to play a role here in Malaysia and across Asean,” he said.
He also shared that Beijing is primarily seeking assurance that the agreement will not disadvantage Chinese companies.
“They don’t want to be in a position where we give preferential treatment to the United States,” he said.
Tengku Zafrul added that as comprehensive strategic partners, both countries aim to elevate cooperation beyond existing Free Trade Agreement (FTA) frameworks, including the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and the Asean-China FTA.
When asked about rare earth elements, Tengku Zafrul said no foreign or local proposals have been submitted for approval.
Speaking on the Asean-China FTA upgrade 3.0 protocol, Tengku Zafrul said it was a success to see it among the priority economy deliverables that were completed by Jan 1.
Regarding his future endeavours, Tengku Zafrul said he is committed to serving as the Badminton Association of Malaysia president.
He said he has always been involved with the sport and is planning to attend the SEA Games in Thailand.
The Concorde Club is an informal group of editors and senior journalists who meet with politicians and key policymakers.
