CONSISTENT AND COMMON POLICIES STRENGTHEN ASEAN MARKETS, ATTRACT INVESTMENTS -- AMIR HAMZAH

KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 (Bernama) -- Consistent policies and common mechanisms across ASEAN can help create a more connected market, making the bloc more attractive to capital and providing a base of stability for the region’s future progress.

Finance Minister II Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan said that adopting common policies, such as standardised emissions measurement, consistent intervention tools, and aligned taxonomy in areas like climate change, would make ASEAN markets more fluid and interconnected, allowing the region to be seen as a single market rather than a collection of separate countries.

“So those (common policies) attract capital, and they provide the base of stability for ASEAN to progress going forward,” he said at a high-level roundtable on “Bringing Everything Together - Policy Challenges for Asia Going Forward” held in conjunction with the Asia in 2050 Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, today.

The high-level event organised by the Bank of Thailand in collaboration with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) brought together experts, policymakers, and industry leaders from across the region to foster knowledge exchange and innovative thinking around the region's future challenges and opportunities. 

Besides Amir Hamzah, the roundtable panellists were IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva, Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas, and Central Bank of Sri Lanka governor P. Nandalal Weerasinghe.

Amir Hamzah said ASEAN comprises diverse countries with a population of 700 million, offering significant growth potential.

By identifying common ground and focusing on non-controversial areas, he said the bloc can strengthen inter-regional cooperation.

He cited the ASEAN Power Grid as an example of a non-controversial initiative, describing it as fundamentally a win-win for all member countries.

Amir Hamzah also pointed to Malaysia-Singapore cooperation on the Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ), highlighting that the two countries can combine their efforts to be more effective than they would be individually.

“And from the inter-country cooperation, we grow the inter-ASEAN cooperation, then we get even better and stronger together,” he added.

Amir Hamzah said one of ASEAN's main challenges is keeping pace with the rapid technological change. 

“The pace of technology change is moving at a much faster speed, and the key challenge is not to be left behind.

“How do we also make sure that society does not bifurcate, with certain groups of people doing much better than the others?” he said.

For Malaysia, one of the key priorities is to architect the way forward, he said, adding that the country has done reasonably well over the last few years.

“We have restored back fiscal spaces, we have put in fiscal discipline and all that. But to get to the next stage, we have to re-transform the economy. The economy needs to have a lot more complexity that adds into it,” he said.

Amir Hamzah emphasised that the younger generation must be given greater opportunities to engage and contribute, with technology serving as a powerful leveller.

“The key question now is how to enable that group of people to actually participate in this ‘levelling up’ that is happening,” he said, adding that he remains optimistic and if it is done right, Malaysia will move forward.

-- BERNAMA