Malaysia To Drive ASEAN FTA Upgrades To Further Enhance Region's Economic Growth    

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 29 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is looking forward to the "upgrading" and conclusion of some of the existing free trade agreements (FTAs) with certain countries such as China, India and ASEAN member economies.

Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said this is to take advantage of the ever-changing landscape of global economy especially with Malaysia assuming the chairmanship of ASEAN next year.

Malaysia is taking over the ASEAN chairmanship from Laos, officially on Jan 1, 2025.

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He said some of the FTAs that were signed were quite old, over 10 years, alluding to the fact that these agreements needed to be upgraded, and where needed to include new areas such as digital and sustainability chapters.

"We talked about the importance of upgrading some of the free trade agreements that we already have with certain countries, especially China, India and even with ASEAN itself," he told reporters after a briefing session on Malaysia's chairmanship of ASEAN (Economic Pillar) at the ministry here today.

To date, Malaysia has 16 FTAs, both bilateral and multilateral.

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Meanwhile, Tengku Zafrul said Malaysia is pushing for 15 priority economic deliverables (PEDs), which will be discussed during the upcoming ASEAN senior economic officials meeting, to be adopted during the ministerial meeting.

"So, of the 15 PEDs, we will be focusing on four strategic thrusts. What we are going to look at are areas that cover the theme, which is inclusivity and sustainability. 

"… some of the areas are on the supply chain, especially in the field of semiconductors (where) we have other strategic thrusts which is also on the digital framework and economic framework agreements," he said.

Tengku Zafrul also cited semiconductors as among the industries providing opportunities from upstream all the way to downstream and where everyone can play a role.

“We can then market ASEAN as a strong alternative supply chain providing for important industries such as semiconductors,” he said.

He also touched on the ASEAN Economic Community Vision that will cover a period of 20 years up to 2045 as well as the five-year ASEAN Economic Strategic Vision, both of which would be launched during Malaysia’s chairmanship next year.

Apart from that, Malaysia will be hosting the second ASEAN-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit, he said.

He said this will be the first time the ASEAN-GCC summit would be looking at an economic viewpoint with Malaysia as host eyeing the possibility of the formulation of an ASEAN-GCC Economic Cooperation Framework.

"Yes, this is the first time that we are hosting the GCC countries and also the first time the leaders of ASEAN have decided to invite China to be part of the ASEAN-GCC meeting," Tengku Zafrul said.

The ASEAN bloc is currently the fifth largest economy globally with nominal gross domestic product of US$3.8 trillion.

-- BERNAMA